Extreme depravity: Violation of the body of daughter
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Bestial, disgusting, depraved, perverted, outrageous, and scandalous and the list goes on. Words are simply not enough to describe the felony of raping a minor girl repeatedly by her own father. It was also the most aggravated case of domestic violence. Unable to bear the atrocity of her own father, the 16-year old girl consumed poison on July 31 and she died on August 21. This is the tragic tale of the hapless girl. The depravity of the father is simply unspeakable. Though very small in size in terms of population and geographical area, Manipur has seen numerous cases of rape, rape plus murder and even gangrape. But the latest incident of raping a girl repeatedly by her own father which ultimately led to the death of the young girl should have pricked the conscience of one and all. Nothing can be more outrageous and scandalous. However, so far little voice has been raised against the highly abominable criminal act which shook the very moral foundation of the society. Except for a mass rally organised by the Social Welfare Department on August 23, very few NGOs, CSOs, student organisations and human rights activists have so far bothered to raise any voice of protest or condemnation. Rape is a very serious crime not only from the legal perspective but also from the perspective of criminology. Rape is a huge issue that plagues the world today. It is a worldwide issue, and is not specific to any one country. Rape also can impact anyone at any time. It is not specific to any one neighborhood, race, gender, sexual orientation, age or financial status. Yet rapes, sometimes gang rape, rape plus murder and rape by one’s own father do happen in the tiny State of Manipur which is often given the sobriquets of being the land of Nupi Laans and the only place for women exclusive markets.
Bizarre it may sound but the reality is, women in Manipur are elevated to the high pedestal of being champions of all kinds of socio-political issues and at the same time they are being reduced to wretched, discard-able sub-humans. Male chauvinism and hypocrisy have reached its zenith in the troubled State of Manipur. Rapes and murders are no longer isolated criminal cases. Rapes and murders have been fast evolving into some sort of a deadly infection which is eating into the vitals of the society. And in each and every incident, the violence is stark, brutal and inhuman. These brutal incidents also put a big question on the earlier understanding of our society as gender-sensitive where women are accorded a higher status as compared to other societies. When violence has become a way of life in Manipur wherein the weaker are at the receiving end, specially women, and in the light of the ever increasing incidences of violence against women, there is a growing need for active and sustained engagement on the issue in the form of collective people’s movements with the necessary doses of gender readings of the situation as well as the movements. Such an engagement becomes crucial all the more on account of ever increasing violation of the body of woman and her life in various spheres such as economic, political and social – or in short, in the everydayness of her existence. It is a tragedy that despite the rich and long tradition of women’s movements, Manipur is yet to witness any gender-centric mass movement. Its absence is conspicuous by itself given the fact that domestic violence, rape and murder of women have been disturbing the collective psyche of our people more frequently than ever before, not to mention about the latest incident of rape committed by a man upon his own daughter.
Bizarre it may sound but the reality is, women in Manipur are elevated to the high pedestal of being champions of all kinds of socio-political issues and at the same time they are being reduced to wretched, discard-able sub-humans. Male chauvinism and hypocrisy have reached its zenith in the troubled State of Manipur. Rapes and murders are no longer isolated criminal cases. Rapes and murders have been fast evolving into some sort of a deadly infection which is eating into the vitals of the society. And in each and every incident, the violence is stark, brutal and inhuman. These brutal incidents also put a big question on the earlier understanding of our society as gender-sensitive where women are accorded a higher status as compared to other societies. When violence has become a way of life in Manipur wherein the weaker are at the receiving end, specially women, and in the light of the ever increasing incidences of violence against women, there is a growing need for active and sustained engagement on the issue in the form of collective people’s movements with the necessary doses of gender readings of the situation as well as the movements. Such an engagement becomes crucial all the more on account of ever increasing violation of the body of woman and her life in various spheres such as economic, political and social – or in short, in the everydayness of her existence. It is a tragedy that despite the rich and long tradition of women’s movements, Manipur is yet to witness any gender-centric mass movement. Its absence is conspicuous by itself given the fact that domestic violence, rape and murder of women have been disturbing the collective psyche of our people more frequently than ever before, not to mention about the latest incident of rape committed by a man upon his own daughter.