By HH Mohrmen
Citizen of the state who are in the right frame of mind should feel the pangs of guilt about crimes against women and the girl child which are rising unabated in the state. And then the moot question – What happens next? Does the sense of guilt make us angry and does it compel us to act and try to change what has happened? Or does the sense of guilt and anger fade away the moment we fold the newspaper because it does not involve our near and dear ones or somebody we know? Do we shove the paper into the wastepaper bin and resign to our comfort zones because the crime does not affect us at all?
Most of us fall in the second category in the way we treat news reports in the press, no matter how sordid or gruesome they may be because those do not affect us directly, we conclude. We have become impervious to the crimes committed against fellow humans and we have become callous because we do not have sentiments anymore – in short we have lost our hearts. Rape cases and for that matter any crime reported in the press becomes mere statistic the next day.
Even while the case of the girl from Ichamati who was trafficked and sexually exploited is being reported every day, the case of gang rape of another minor at Mawryngkneng is gradually being moved to the backburner. And many not so high profile rape cases have been neglected and the rape victim is fighting the psychological battle alone and without any help and support. Only girls and women who have been violated and those who have undergone the ordeal know how it feels to be violated and especially when the perpetrator(s) of the crime is/are roaming freely because the hand of the law is not long enough.
Ironically in the above two recent and high profile rape cases, the people who are expected to be the guardians of the law are found violating the law. The MLA who is supposed to uphold the law of the land in letter and spirit is alleged to have violated the modesty of a minor girl. The traditional heads or the leaders of the community who are supposed to be keepers of the law in the absence of law enforcement machinery, were allegedly involved in trying to hush up the crime and push it under the carpet and also to try and shield the perpetrators of the crime just because the alleged rapist is closely related to some of the community leaders. Do the traditional heads know what their role is and what their duty is in the event of crimes being committed in the area of their jurisdiction?
The lesson we learned from the Mawryngkneng gang rape incident is that the community leaders need to be capacitated. We need to build the capacity of the headman on how they can be of help or support to the law enforcement machinery in the event a crime being committed in the area of their jurisdiction. When a non-compoundable offence like rape is committed in the area, there is nothing that the dorbar shnong or the rangbah shnong can do except to report the same to the authorities concerned. Period. Crime can only be dealt by the police but as reported in the press in this particular case, the police acted rather unprofessionally when the crime was first reported to them.
A few years ago a colleague who is a minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bradford Massachusetts asked me to give him the name of any person from Meghalaya who is involved in any work which has to do with protection of basic human rights of persons. He also told me of a tradition they have in the church that each year they have a special service in which they name one person from different parts of the globe who has consistently involved in protection of human rights. The first name that came to my mind was that of Agnes Kharshiing and without any hesitation I gave him her name. Some of my colleagues in Meghalaya were apprehensive and did not share my views but i stuck to my gun and I know I was not wrong.
The only person who takes up cudgels every time there is report of any kind of crime against women in the state is Agnes Kharshiing and CSWO. Kong Agnes does not raise the issue merely to get the limelight but she follows through the case. I know a when a minor was raped in Jowai, the case dragged for many years despite it being tried by the Fast Track Court in Jowai and the FT Court in its final verdict acquitted the rapist. And if it is not for the consistent follow-up of the case by Agnes Kharshiing justice would have been denied to the minor girl and the rapist would have been free now and would not have had to spend a single day in the cell. But the case went to the high court which ordered retrial of the case and the district court sentenced the rapist to 10 years rigorous imprisonment.
The problem is we have only few people like Agnes Kharshiing and too many cases of crimes against women and girls which has increased substantially. But we now have few more women in the state who have consistently raised this very important issue in different forums. Patricia Mukhim being the Editor of the largest selling English daily in the state uses her paper and social media to raise this issue and speak about this problem in the public domain. Then we have Angela Rangad and TUR who raise a hue and cry whenever a crime is committed against women in the state and even organised a rally to this affect. We also have few letters to the editor which clearly show how angry the people are at the turn of events, but are these reactions enough?
The issue is a gigantic one and we need a collective effort of all the citizens of the state both those mandated by the law to protect the rights of the women and girls like for example the different Commissions, the doctors, hospitals and the police and of course those who do it voluntarily
So, when people like Agnes Kharshiing and Patricia Mukhim get very angry at the lackadaisical attitude of those agencies which are mandated to protect the rights of women and girls I can understand it because in spite of they not being paid to do the job, they do not mind spending their time and hard earned money to follow through these cases. On the other hand those who are appointed to do the job remain silent. So, they have every right to question these government appointed agencies for not rising to the call of their duty.
On January 11 few hundred people responded to a public rally to protest against the rising crime against women called by TUR and CSWO but where was the rest of the population? The question is what about us? What are we going to do? Or are we going to be silent spectators because the crime against women and girls is not our concern.
What about political parties? It is only recently that the UDP and BJP came up with a press note to condemn the increasing numbers of crime against women and girls in the state. But not without trying to score Brownie points from the unfortunate incidents. The need of the hour is for the political parties to rise above their differences and come up with a bi-partisan solution to solve the vexed problem.
What about the many churches or religious organisations in the state? Why are they silent on the issue and continue to be mute spectators when the graph of crime against women and girls is heading north every day. We are yet to see a single faith group making any public statement on this very important issue. The eyes of the world are looking at us on how the last of the few remaining matrilineal societies in the world is dealing with the rising crimes against woman and girls in the community. Can we get our act together?