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Like in other parts of India and the world, violence against women is becoming a
common feature in the region in the last decade. Till the past half century,
such violence was found confined to malevolent acts of lust and conjugal strife.
But in recent years, the violence is getting diversified and is mounting up.
Women in Manipur are constantly tortured mentally and physically under the guise
of certain social norms and taboos. They are the main workers, whether it be at
home or at the paddy fields. Their domestic chores involve cooking, washing,
child care, firewood collection, kitchen gardening and what not. Even the
working women are not spared. This kind of slaving continue till they retire due
to physical breakdown or old age. Anyway, it is the women who ages fast because
of the physical burden imposed upon them.
But their hard work and economic contribution towards family management is not
appreciated. Instead, they are exposed to physical and mental abuse, threats,
torture and sexual harassment by the male members of the society.
In marital strife, it is the wife who is always in the wrong. Be it her in-laws
or her own family members, they will all blame it on her so-called stupidity or
refusing to adjust to her husband. In fact, most marital strife are caused by
the wayward behaviour of the husband. Say, the husband brings home another woman
or he has some woman stowed away somewhere or he is having illicit relationship
with some other woman, the wife at home will become the target of abuse, threats
and beatings.
Life is very hard for the young widows as they are always held under suspicion
of infidelity or otherwise by the in-laws. Their everyday life is put under a
microscope and even her simplest gestures and activities become suspect.
Sometimes they are subjected to sexual harassment. Young divorcees also face
similar inconveniences of such violence even at their maiden home.
A barren wife or even a wife who could not give birth to a son is resented by
mother-in-laws . The simple reason is that barrenness is a sin in the society
and at the same time a burden too in the family. Their lives are made such a
hell that they ultimately leave the husband's home.
On the other hand, it is quite common for husbands beating up or torturing their
wives on even a simple pretext just to assert their authority. Only this month,
a young housewife suffered burn injuries at the hands of her husband, following
a simple quarrel. She said, her husband became furious when she refused to join
him at bed, in the morning. A verbal abuse followed after which she was doused
with kerosine and burnt. Her husband also suffered burn injuries.
Another young woman, who was married only seven months, died of burn injuries in
mysterious circumstances on 12 December 1999. Although the complicity of the
husband was suspected, no police case followed. The husbands was found shot dead
by some unknown persons on the day of her Shradha (rite de passage).
Wilful killing of women by their own husband with the active connivance of
in-laws is another crime which frequently occurs in Manipur. The reasons are
either for economic benefit or facilitating a second marriage. The methods of
killing include stabbing, strangulation, staged hanging, suffocation, burning
with kerosine, drowning, etc.
Although one often hears of sexual harassments at home and the work place by
step fathers, co-brothers or higher officials, such cases rarely come out in the
open, for fear of victimization or loss of public esteem. Alleged torture and
molestation by security and police personnel are also reported.
Family conflicts often lead to death of young girls and married women. There are
numerous cases of girls and women committing suicide by fasting, hanging or by
consuming poison. Immature girls and women having mental problems or depression
are the main victims.
AIDS is on the top of the health problems faced by women in Manipur. It has
become all the more pervading because it is not restricted among the high risk
groups any more. With the increase in the rate of sexual transmission of the
disease, the ignorant and innocent young unmarried women have become highly
susceptible to it.
It has become a practice for the community and women groups to publicly
humiliate errant women for crimes ranging from selling of liquor to
prostitution. Shaving off or cutting the hair, smearing of lime or turmeric
powder, publication of photographs in the newspapers, public parading and
excommunication are some of the unwarranted violence inflicted on the women. In
the case of extra-marital relationship, if a couple is caught red-handed in a
compromising position, women vigilante groups will immediately bestow conjugal
status on them, irrespective of their previous marital status.
- Other articles in the January Opinion
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