Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, February 02:
Though blessed with the reproductive capacity, women in the State are often victimised in the family.
Even as women are proud of their child bearing quality, domestic violence leads to forfeiture of the God gifted reproductive right in many cases.
At a programme organised by the Women Action for Development at Youth Centre, Khuman Lampak today, many women belonging to different districts of Manipur recounted their tale of woes.
They recounted their ordeal of domestic violence they face in their own families.
Three widows recounted harassment they endured in their families after their husbands had been shot dead.
Some other women conveyed of their horrendous experience they underwent when they were raped mercilessly.
Still some others decried and mourned their fates resulting from marrying UG cadres who came to their house for shelter but had no remorse to abandon their wives.
Among those victimised women, there was one who has been bearing the brunt of both her husband and mother-in-law.
Besides enduring extreme physical and mental torture, she is being persistently nagged to abort her already conceived child.
"Though helpless I always tried to bear all the harassment all alone but I could not stand the harsh words of my husband.
My husband not only abused me but also ordered me to undergo abortion saying that he is not the father of the child I've conceived.
He accused me of being immoral", conveyed the young expectant mother.
The 28 year old said, "My husband and mother-in-law wish to terminate my pregnancy and they always nagged saying that I didn't bring much dowry".
"My husband even threatened me that he would not come home and that I will be left to myself if I don't agree to their proposal for abortion".
Much as they harassed and petrified her, the young woman was determined against eliminating her first child.
Unable to bear the daily harassment, she came back to her parental home and there she gave birth to a child, recounted the victim of dowry.
Another victim of dowry system, who is now living with her parents conveyed that soon after her marriage she was subjected to all kinds of harassment all because of her inability to bring articles her in-laws desired in dowry.
No mandatory medical facility was availed to her when she got pregnant with her first child.
But she was physically abused and thrashed during the advanced stage of pregnancy and also after delivery.
Though she is living with her two children at her parental house now, she is suffering from the pangs of the physical abuse she suffered at her in-law's house, stated the woman.
Another woman who has been deserted by her husband who was a cadre of an UG group after being married for a short time said, "I was in love with the man and reposed all my faith to the man but he cheated me".
After marriage he continued working for the UG group for sometime but he started dealing in intoxicants.
Then he brought home another woman as his 2nd wife.
"When I complained against his second marriage, he thrashed me severely", recounted the woman betrayed by lover.
Even as they went to concerned police stations to file complaints against such instances of domestic violence, in most cases they were refused to lodge complaints, stated the women.
Moreover, when they took their cases to family court, the court could not give judgement in time thereby denying justice to the victimised women, they decried.