MEGHALAYA is fighting a losing battle on crimes against women and girl children. Every single day there are reports of heinous crimes against adolescent girls, often committed by their own family members. The young girl whose beheaded body was found buried in Garo Hills recently was allegedly done to death by the step-father who according to the mother had been sexually abusing her for a long while. This is a very serious issue plaguing many women in Meghalaya’s matrilineal society. It is a known fact that in Meghalaya marriage/co-habitation among couples is very brittle. Women are abandoned by their husbands/partners all too easily and left defenceless. Children born out of such unions are the responsibility of the mother in this society. The claim for alimony/maintenance by a divorced/abandoned woman is a difficult process if the man is not a salaried person. Court orders are often implemented in the breach. This leaves the woman at a great disadvantage.
Most women find that living alone without male support leaves them further vulnerable to other forces. Besides they live with the hope that a second marriage or union might at least enable them to bring up their kids from the earlier relationship. While there are honourable men who look after their step-children, such is not always the case. There are several instances where the stepfather has raped his adolescent step-daughter. Earlier such incidents were hushed up and discussed within the four walls of the domestic sphere. Today there is greater awareness about such crimes because they are reported by the media. We can only imagine the trauma of a young girl who is abused by the step-father and whose mother is unable to confront the situation because she depends on him for financial support.
The presence of the State Women’s’ Commission has not been able to address this social malaise while The Child Protection Commission is fairly new and perhaps not adequately empowered as yet by the Government. There are not enough NGOs to follow through these cases to their logical end. Several cases of rape are pending at the District Council Courts. These need to be followed up. Exemplary punishment for the culprits might help to deter the deviant male from committing such crimes but society should also start discussing these issues more seriously instead of living in denial.
