Menace of Crimes against Women and Children

Mustaque Ahmed *

Painting competition on Theme on "Violence against Women and Children in Manipur" at 12th Arambam Somorendra Memorial Day in June 2012 :: Pix - Banti Phurailatpam

Some humans are having dreadful attitude towards weaker sections of the society. Women and children are believed to be a vulnerable part or weaker sections of the society. It is also taken that weaker section involves physically weak persons. These groups may be weak in speaking out of their problems. But, they may not be weak in the mind.

They certainly feel ill treatment, harassment and pains reaching out to them. Physical attacks and verbal attacks are part of the violation against them. Most of the violence comes through bad actions/systems of an individual or a group of persons against these weaker sections. The violators are so strong that the victims always bear with them the scar life-long with them. Always there are purported illegal activities against women and children. These illegal activities are called crimes in the eyes of the law.

I read about the predators and the prey living in the deep forest. The predator animals like Lions and Tigers prey on small/weaker animals like deer and herbivorous animals for food. This is the rule of nature. Animals eat on one another in their food chains/cycles. There is nothing like a rule to bring changes in their food habit.

These are about the jungle rules. However, the ferocious animals do not attack men without any reason. But men are attacking each other as if one's wish has been fulfilled. Humans have idea, rules, and doctrines for the betterment of themselves. These rules are broken to fulfill the desire of someone or to favour crimes to easily happen.

Today there is menace of crimes against women and children everywhere. Miss Arushi was mercilessly killed in her own home probably a mercy killing incident in Delhi some years back in the year 2008. In yet another gruesome incident one student was raped in a running bus in Delhi. The world was watching about these incidents.

Many in our country were spectators of these incidents. The girls from the North East India are repeatedly victimized in some of our reputed states. Our state also has witnessed many a shameless incidents where women and children were mercilessly tortured and killed.

Let's see how women and children are badly treated in some ways -

1. Bullying/Bad plans: There are evil designs taken place against women and children at their surrounding and the family in which they were borne. They cannot speak against evil designs planted against them. Women have been just blackmailed. Her honour is not considered important in the society. Women and children are equally treated in a patriarchal/male dominated family.

2. Chores/Drudgery Work: Women and Children are cheap laborers in many homes. A mother's care of the family is taken to be cheap. She is not respected in her old age. Who does the cleaning work at home? Women and children; am I right?

3. Work place Difficulty: Women are also expected to earn in some supposedly danger time like in the dark/night. Every time their protection cannot be established. Until and unless threat to women is not removed, women are supposed to live inside the home like in the ancient time.

4. Trap for money: Women and children are dragged down for want of money. They are forced to work under pressure to fill their stomach. They are forced for unexpected works in unexpected environment.

5. Victims of Lust: Sexual exploitation of women and children is most dangerous. Rape cases are examples. Sufferers have to take scar of the victimization process lifelong. There is a grave concern for their physical and mental health.

6. Early/False marriage: The girls in their childhood stage are convinced to be married early. They are made to believe "that is the way of life". Many a father thinks that expenditure for their study is waste of time and money. Many a girl is victims of this mindset. Above all some widows are victims of the remarriage process. If there is no formal engagement from both the side of the remarriage party, the marriage may be a wrong process.

7. Dowry: There is a tradition in which people started believing materialism. The demand of dowry from the groom side is happening around. This makes the marriage very uncomfortable. Meaning thereby harassment, torture and killing of the bride take place. 8. Complaints are not entertained: There are cases where women activists have complaints that there is gender discrepancy. They want more co-operations from police stations. Their cases are not heard in the courts within an expected time period.

Many claimed ambiguously that there is some/very little progress in the women and children affairs. Our political system has allowed women to take up leadership in a democratic way. But, their number is not satisfied; so it should be increased. These days women started taking part in the lower system of democracy i.e. Panchayati Raj.

Even though, they should be allowed to freely take decisions. Women's reservation of seats at higher level democracy is still awaited; so that women's affairs are taken care of most importantly by women only. More women police officers are wanted in the police department to make bold decisions against bad systems where women and children are badly treated.

Even today women are not completely free to walk out of homes in the dark. Their comments in the family are not entertained. Their education is not properly taken care of.

They are not free from bias decisions of the society. The difficulty of a living, protection of chastity and want of education make women and children difficult to live with peacefully on the earth. So, the menace of crime against women and children has not been decreased. Until and unless there is respect for women and children there cannot be development.