The attitude behind rape and molestation : Time to admit the fact
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 01, 2014 -

Behind the conduct or act lies the attitude.

The act is no doubt abhorrent but it is no longer the time to see the act in isolation.

Rape, molestation and even eve teasing cannot be seen in isolation of the attitude towards the fairer gender.

It is this truism that the Manipuri society has to come face to face with.

No longer the time to hide behind some social facade.

Setting aside a day for Nupilan, a place which is home to Ima Keithel or a market place exclusively run and managed by the womenfolk, the meira paibi movement, in short an exalted place for women in the public sphere yet at the same time a place where rape and molestation have become more or less staple diets of the people, a place where eve teasing has become accepted, wife beating, and the list can go on.

A fact which everyone acknowledges but is not ready to come out in the open. The hypocrisy stinks.

No exact figure of rape or molestation with The Sangai Express at the moment, but the very fact that this column has deemed it fit to comment on this should be more than indicative that women, not excluding the girl child, continue to be at the receiving end of such a mindset.

In the last few days, the major newspapers in the State have gone to town to tell at least two rape stories and three molestation incidents.

The stories came out one after the other in the span of just 48 hours or so. Take the total population, about 27 lakhs or so, into consideration and one will get a fair idea of how serious the issue is.

Making it all that more abhorrent is the story that one of the victims was just a Class II student or a child of about 8 or 9 nine years. Some minds can really get demented.

Difficult to digest that one of the rapes took place inside a school and the perpetrator was no one but a teacher of the school.

The accused is already in police custody, but this is possibly not the end of the story, for the ordeal and pain of the victim may have just begun. Child rapists.

In fact so abhorrently has the civilised world come to interpret this that most countries make it a point to pass stringent laws against such elements.

The same may be true in the case of India, but this is not the time to take comfort in stringent laws. Much better it would be to acknowledge the fact and then sincerely see how it can be addressed.

Like any other social ills, there may be no magic formula, but the first step towards tackling such a menace in society is to admit to it and not hide behind a facade.

Difficult to say where Manipur stands on this, but it is more than true that for too long, womenfolk in Manipur have been placed on a pedestal in the public sphere but reduced to the status of a dustbin in private life.

This is what should be admitted to. Not the time for hypocrisy but to admit that indeed there is something gravely wrong with society as a whole.