What exact status do the Manipuri women enjoy in society? Is the Manipuri woman more of a trophy to be kept at home to attend to the household chores or does she play an important role in the social, economic and political set up of the society? True, we have the two Nupi Lans and we have the Meira Paibis and in the hills we have a number of women organizations which have played no mean role in shaping the course and destiny of the Manipuri society but the presence of these women organizations and the historical events do not answer the question of where the Manipuri women stand in the social set up today.
We ask these questions today because crime against women has been on the rise and it will do the society no good if we refuse to acknowledge the facts and call a spade a spade. A hundred Nupi Lans should not be taken as the barometer to judge the status of women in Manipuri society for the simple fact that for every Nupi Lans there are even more number of battered and psychologically scarred women.
If the heroines of the two Nupi Lans are placed on a pedestal and worshipped today we also have an equal number of raped, battered and psychologically scarred women at the other end of the spectrum. Of late the State newspapers have been carrying reports of one rape story or the other and if we take into account the point that not all rape victims come forward to lodge their protests, then we can well visualize the extent of women being sexually and physically exploited.
The reported rape of a mentally challenged, mute girl of 14 at Langathel in Thoubal district on October 25 must surely go down as one of the most heinous crimes committed against womanhood in recent times. What makes the crime all that abominable is the fact that the girl was a minor, mute and mentally challenged. We do not know what works inside the minds of rapists and criminals but we do know that such acts against a young child who just does not have the strength, mental or physical, to resist the rapists, goes against all that signifies human behavior.
We know that investigation into the case will surely be handicapped by the fact that the mother of the child has not named any suspect in the complaint lodged with Kakching police and also because the complaint was lodged after a few days of the incident. However this should not be any reason for the police to go slow on the matter. It is our fervent wish and hope that the police use all its technical and investigative skills to unmask the culprits and mete out fitting punishment according to the law of the land.
We also wonder why the social organizations of Thoubal have not come forward to lodge a protest. In as much as the victims of rape and her family suffer, it also goes without saying that rape reflects very poorly on the society as a whole. Social vigil against rape and violence against women will prove one of the most potent methods to keep such undesirable social evils under check. Having said this we would also like to ask what punishment should be meted out to rapists.
Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, not so long ago, advocated the death penalty for rapists but this did not find favor with majority of the law makers and thinkers on the ground that it would take us back to the medieval age. Some have suggested castration to deprive rapists of their manhood. Underground outfits have awarded death penalty to rapists on more than one occasion.
We really do not know what type of punishments rapists should get but we would certainly advocate strong social ostracism against such criminals. A public debate would also be fruitful on this score.
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