As the International Women's Day was celebrated on March 8, 2006
all over world, the Joint Women's Organization comprising of different
women's organizations of Manipur organized a protest rally in
Churachandpur against the alleged rape of 21 women in Tipaimukh sub-division by
an underground group of Manipur .
As the Commission of Inquiry under
Justice S.P.Rajkhowa is about to start its inquiry at present about the
molestation of M. Naobi Chanu by state police commandos and the alleged
mass rape by underground cadres in Tipaimukh area around the middle of
Jan. 2006 it would be too early to conclude anything specific about
both the cases.
Rather, I would like to present here some points
regarding crimes against women in the strife torn state of Manipur. Nowadays,
it is almost becoming fashionable among school children to talk about
such dirty incidents in the schools and our newspapers columns are full
of such kind of crimes everyday.
Is it the sign of a morally perverted
and sexually starved society where rape and molestation are used as
weapons for showing off sexual male chauvinism in a society presented
with full of contradictions of a mistaken modernity reverting back to an
animalism of the worst kind?
In the two incidents happened recently, the nature of the crime
common to both the cases was that armed personnel ( shall we say
"combatants" ) are making victims of helpless and innocent women using
molestation and rape as means of seeking indirect revenge against their men
folk. Rape as lust crime is hated enough but the more alarming thing is
that the crime had been committed and used as a weapon of war
attribution.
In the Naobi Chanu case the crime was committed by a band of
uniformed and active police force ( state- actors) whereas in the second case
of mass rape in Tipaimukh , the alleged rapists are underground ( non-
state actors ) fighting for Self-Determination. Thus, the two
juxtaposing forces are seemingly indulging in the same kind of methods and
tactics of operation against an innocent, helpless third party ( non-
combatants or civilians).
Again, mass rapes, a newly emerging phenomenon of
the last 5/6 decades in Manipur is also symptomatic of deeply fractured
conflict situations as it happened in Rwanda, Kosovo and Nepal etc.
Such cases have also allegedly occurred in the communal bloodbath among
the Nagas and the Kukis.
The State Governments' responses to such crimes have been too slow
and inactive even when strong political pressure is applied. Despite
the low level of development of the state , the response of the civil
society groups against such crimes have been quite active. Thanks to the
large presence of the media and its activities the people on the whole
have started some sort of dialogue resulting in the constitution of the
Rajkhowa Commission of Inquiry.
The alleged rape by undergrounds in CCpur Dist. can be cited as an
exceptional case in Manipur's history because the crime doers were
allegedly the cadres of valley based groups, the UNLF and the KCP and the
victims belong to a hill area . It may be broadly viewed on two grounds:
the hill people's changing attitude towards the valley based militants
and the militant groups' changing nature of interaction with the common
people specially belonging to other ethnic groups.
In the present case
civil societies in both the hills and the valley have to be very
careful not to attach any communal tinge to the issue as it may widen the
already cracking extent of polarization between the hills and the valley.
Many people still find it difficult to believe the alleged mass
rape was actually committed by the UNLF and the KCP cadres because it
raises many intriguing questions. Since valley based militants in the past
have awarded harsh punishments including capital punishments to
molesters and rapists in certain cases.
Or is the allegation a tool for an
indirect propaganda warfare to drive away valley based militants from
their bases in the hills? Again, no woman would come out to say that she
has been raped unless done so. Or is there a conflict arising between
methods and the ideologies of the undergrounds? Such a mentality of
disillusionment against many militants activities is creeping into the minds
of the common people and the intellectuals.
As Patricia Mukhim puts
it: " What's unfortunate is that our social revolutionaries excel in
monologue. Theirs is the language of threat and intimidation. They have
created a situation where questioning their modus operandi is equivalent
to challenging their very existence. Militants do not take kindly to any
kind of open defiance.
There must be a reason for this. If a
revolutionary group is operating on the basis of premises of justice, truth and
honesty, why would it fear social auditing? But, perhaps the social
revolutionaries of Manipur are not really what they claimed to be. They
have taken the form of exterminators who can take away at lives at will"
(The Telegraph, Guwahati, Tuesday 21st March,2006).
As the latest media reports suggest, the mass rape had indeed
taken place. The problem is who the culprits are. Some people had even
gone to the extent of suggesting that it might have been co-operative sex
since the allegations surface more than one month and a half after the
alleged date of rape and that too, not directly from the victims
themselves. Some have suggested DNA finger printing of the foetuses and
alleged rapists to be able to close the case conclusively.
Another important fact is that there are reportedly 800 villagers
displaced by the conflict in Tipaimukh area and are now taking shelter
in Mizoram afraid to return. If the Govt. of Manipur fails to take the
right steps and relocate the victims will they ever call " Manipur Our
Home" again?
In the Manipur of the past, a person who dishonoured a woman would
be given exemplary punishments known as 'Khongoinaba' (including
parading naked before the public). Traditional punitive laws seem to more
effective than the modern laws in cases like molestation, rape and other
crimes against women because the king had to follow his own dictates.
Emancipation of women was never a chapter in Manipuri history because
they enjoyed a lot of rights. The inequality between a man and a woman was
more for efficiency of the society than oppression unlike in the case
of Greater India after the 21st century. But in the present scenario of
Manipur, women face the worst of conflict directly in terms of threat
to life, sexual harassments, rape and restrictions upon livelihood
means.
From the very outset the UNLF have been stating that it is open to
an impartial probe on the case and even welcomes the Commission of
Inquiry and says that it would punish its cadres accordingly if found
guilty.
The most important thing is what the outcome of any probe will
result in the social bonding and cohesion among the different ethnic groups
in Manipur.
It is worthwhile here to remember Machiavelli who stated, "
Men more readily forget the death of a father than the loss of
patrimony ( including dishonour to one's wife and extortion of his money).
It is only to be hoped that let no rumour mills make the problem become
more dangerous and difficult to solve .
Vikram Nongmaithem, a Research scholar, Pol. Science, at MU writes regularly to e-pao.net
The writer can be contacted at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on April 22nd, 2006
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