There was a time in tribal society when one unnatural death such as the murder of a man or woman would create a furore, followed by bitter condemnation, particularly at the place closest to where the murder occurred. Today such incidents have become commonplace and this should make us ask whether we have become part of the so-called mainstream society where such things happen all the time and conscience and emotions are therefore anaesthetized if not frozen.
Between May and June this year two grotesque murders were reported. One was that of a woman killed by her husband; the other is of a young woman whose throat was slit in broad daylight and in a public space by an obsessive lover. The latest report is of a step-father raping his 15-year old minor step-daughter to the point of impregnating her. Despite the presence of the State Commission for Women there is evidently no behavioural or attitudinal change in men. Nor are women able to take corrective steps to defend themselves from such neurotic lovers. Khasi society is not new to step-fathers sexually assaulting their step-daughters but these are hushed up because this is a society that calls itself “god-fearing and respectful of fellow humans (ri tip-briew, tip-Blei),” and no one wants that veil of respectability to be undraped. Society therefore considers each of these crimes as one-off incidents and moves on. What is a matter of concern is that there is no thriving woman’s organisation in the state capital to call out such crimes and seek justice for the victims. Such incidents should have activated the State Commission for Women to take suo-moto action by condemning the incidents through public statements, apart from showing concern for the family members of the deceased women and also enabling them to seek justice for those killed. Instead, there has only been a studied silence. It is learnt that the Government has not appointed members to the State Commission for Women which now has only a Chairperson. So why is the Government so slack and disinterested to empower this important agency created to safeguard women from all kinds of sexual crimes? Several years ago the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) had come up with damning statistics about Meghalaya being a state with the highest number of domestic violence cases. At the time some Rangbah Shnong when asked for their comments stated that these are unfounded allegations intended to defame the state. But those working in the State Commission for Women inform that there are several cases of violence – physical, emotional, adulterous relationships, abandonment by the husband/partner and more, every single day.
Those are only the women that have picked up courage to come to the Commission or to report incidents of sexual violence. There are many more cases in our villages where women dare not report crimes of violence, like marital rape for instance. Unless the State Commission for Women activates women’s organisations across the state to take responsible positions on crimes against women, such cases will grow in number. Time to activate the State Commission for Women!
