Onus on menfolk to curb crimes: Dr Dhanabir
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, December 31 2023:
Social scientist Dr Dhanabir Laishram has opined that crime against women and children in the society is at an all-time high due to decline of moral values among men.
He made the remark during the distribution function of the Gender Journalist Award- 2023, organised by Women Action for Development (WAD) at Manipur Press Club here Sunday.
During the function, the Best Gender Journalist Award-2023 was presented to Imphal Review of Arts and Politics' Kshetrimayum Chitrabhanu Devi.
In addition, the Best Promising Award was presented to three reporters, namely Asein Baby-cha (Pandam), Konsam Samita (Sangai Express) and B Rakesh Sharma (Imphal Free Press) .
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Dhanabir recounted that Manipuri society used to have high moral values with men and women working and socialising from morning till night with no instances of unwanted incidents or crimes.
However, contemporary Manipuri society has become quite an unsafe place with crimes against women and children rising at an alarming rate, due to decline of moral values among the men.
Stating that the law, no matter how strict, alone cannot put an end to crime against women and children; the social scientist stressed the need for building a society with high moral values.
The moral values most importantly need to be instilled amongst the youth, for which mass awareness and participation in activities aimed to reduce crimes against women and children, he asserted.
Dr Dhanabir continued that crimes against women and children cannot be put to an end without the participation of men, while appreciating the large number of men who attended the function.
He then urged the men to further participate in related programmes and expressed firm belief that Manipuri society would return to its previous stature as a society with high moral values.
As part of the function, a book titled "A Practitioner's guide to combat crime against women in Manipur" was also released.