By Richard Huidrom
(2nd year student, Imphal college)
Many of us are suffering with anxiety and stress issue due to the pandemic. The virus has been spreading like wildfire globally for the past few months although Manipur just started burning up recently. There has been on and off lockdown ever since the month of March. It is much of an obvious fact that everyone is suffering and amidst all this situation a young 16 year old teenager died after she was raped by her boyfriend and his friends on Thursday 3rd September. The girl is informed to be from Mayang Imphal. She was found unconscious near her locality. Unfortunately she was unable to be saved and passed away at ICU ward, RIMs.
As hearing the news many people out there will be shaken up and start informing their daughters and sisters to be vigilant of such situation and men. Once again blaming the victim instead of the rapist has been internalized. The fact that the situation has been internalized can been seen in every local household. This obnoxious behaviour has outgrown the mindset of people helps in the continuation of similar events. This 16 year old girl rape case has also a very close re-enactment of the Disha’s gang rape case which happened in Hyderabad in 2019 and also to Nirbhaya’s case of 2012.
The rape culture is actually an expression of brutalization of our culture. It has it’s own roots. It started out at the time of our birth when we came out from our mother wombs with different sex organ. The sex and gender which has different meanings is very much underestimated by the people and society. The ignorance of the society has outgrown ever since. We have been told by our mother and father, and even in schools the norms of being a boy and a girl in the society. Unknowingly we have accepted the awkward relation of men-women and internalize it within ourselves.
We can also see that manhood in our culture is defined on how much abusive control and dominant power that a man has over his woman; and those who actually treats woman and other equally are told be impotent. This barbaric cultural notion needs to be clean out.
It is a very high time where everyone needs to indulge with zero tolerance of abuse of women at home and at public domain. Anti-woman abusive culture is a barbaric act and no women deserves it.
