Manipur Widows Demand Right to Life

By Sobhapati Samom

Imphal, Feb 9 : Twenty cases of crime against women and children including four brutal murders reported in the first month of the year speaks volumes about the violence against women in Manipur.

“It is terrifying to think how many women would be harassed or killed at the end of the year,” N Sunibala, 27 whose husband was killed in a BSF firing at Nongpok Sekmai village in Manipur’s Thoubal district three years back, said.

Sunibala continued that the spurt of crime against women and children has created a fear psychosis, particularly among the widows who are struggling to bring up their children and regain control of their lives after losing their husbands.

M Umarani, another widow from Bishnupur district lamented, “no concrete measures have been taken up to identify and arrest the culprits behind the recent brutal murder of mother and daughter”. One Angom Chanbi and her daughter Menaka were found murdered at Phayeng village in Imphal West district while another young girl Ratanmala of Khurai locality was found killed near Ningombam village.

Sunibala and Umarani were among widows who participated in the Conflict Widows Forum (COWF) Manipur, a body of women widowed by the ongoing conflict situation in the State and Women Action for Development(WAD), an NGO working in the field of gender and Social Awareness Service Organisation (SASO), another NGO working in HIV/AIDS sector, sponsored mass protest rally to air their anger over the recent spate of crime against women in the region in the last two months.

A meeting of the widows held after converging at a rally at Bhagyachandra Open Air Theatre near here, decided to seek President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil’s intervention to ensure the right to life of widows in the country.

COWF, in a memorandum evolved in the meet, urged for a clear-cut government policy for speedy trial of cases related to rape and murder of women. Copies of the memorandum will also be sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, Union Minister for Home Affairs P Chidambaram, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath, Manipur Governor Gurbachan Jagat and Chief Minister Okram Ibobi.

The meeting besides demanding immediate arrest of the culprits involved in the recent killings and to punish them as per the rule of law, want punishment to child traffickers in the State, as well as inclusive training on human rights, gender issues and child rights to government security forces.