Prevent crime against women
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: September 14 2011 -
Students of RK Sanatombi Vidyalaya, Pangei taking out a silent rally protesting against the murder of Vasmi Khaleng who was a student of the Vidayalaya - Pix :: Hueiyen Lanpao
In yet another despicable crime against women, a teenage girl was left abandoned at Thangmeiband Cheiraoching after being murdered.
The brutality of her murder, the possibility that she was sexually abused before the murder, the manner in which her body was left abandoned, it is all very disturbing.
It numbs ones senses to think that any human being is capable of committing such a crime.
Time was when we used to pride ourselves in the way our society used to treat women and children.
The comparative freedom women in this part of the world enjoyed, the degree of their participation in our social and cultural life, is much celebrated.
Though the gender relationship was always skewed in favour of men, women were treated with certain respect.
Of course, women were exploited in the good old days also but this sort of deliberate targeting, their brutalization in such manner is a recent trend.
In the last few years there have been numerous cases of women and very young girls being raped and murdered, of young girls of the state being trafficked to far off places like Chennai and Goa and even beyond the country.
And this trend should worry us all. Beyond the immediate question of dealing with such crimes, we also need to understand the reasons behind such a trend.
Is it because of the increasing objectification of women in the mass media, in advertising, or has it got something to do with the dilution of traditional norms and values, etc.
These are questions for our social scientists to provide answers to. It is for them to suggest ways to arrest and reverse this alarming trend.
Coming back to the brutal murder Vasmi Khaleng, who was just 15 years of age and who had come all the way from Ukhrul to pursue her studies in Imphal, it's a tragic loss for the family.
The perpetrators of this despicable crime should be brought to book at the earliest. The law enforcement agencies should show through concrete examples that there is no getting away scot free after committing such a deplorable crime.
We have seen on several occasions that many of these crimes against women have remained unsolved or have not been pursued with the rigour they deserve.
On top of it, the justice delivery system being as it is, reparation in many cases come much too late, prolonging the misery of the victims and their families.
Another related issue which the Imphal West police and Imphal East police, should exercise their mind on, is the question of safety and security of quite a large number of women and girls from far off places who are staying in various 'hostels' spread across the city area.
They should see if any preventive/precautionary measures against such crimes can be put in place without being too intrusive.
Special attention should be given to minor and teenage girls who are at an impressionable age and most vulnerable.
NGOs working with women and children can also play a significant role, as many of them have been doing, in preventing such crimes in future.
It would help immensely if a forum for interaction between the hostel/boarding establishments, parents of the hostellers, the police and the NGOs on the safety and security measures for these women and girls, is put in place.
Let's do everything humanly possible to prevent such crimes.
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