What is so special of the North East girls? We need to find out the motives of the Delhi people or other Indian's mindset that leads to frequent eve-teasing, molestation and rape of our girls?
"North East girls are very beautiful", said one of the Editors of a premier fashion and modeling magazine based in National Capital Region (NCR). "Their skins are flawless...they are little angels, we need new faces from these regions." I got this remark while working for a Fashion magazine as Executive Editor. Today, I am quoting his words in the backdrop of the recent molestation and harassment of North East girls by their landlord.
The tragic incident in the early hours of December 13, 2008 where the landlord knocked at the door of a rented room at Sikandrapur, DLF Phase-I in Gurgaon is another crime meted out to our girls in Delhi and its adjoining areas. The two girls had come to Gurgaon on December 11 in search of a suitable job. In the very week of the International Human Rights Day, our girls are humiliated and discriminated. And the law of the country is protecting the culprits, as usual.
According to a reliable source from the New Delhi-based North East Support Centre and Helpline (NESCH), the two girls were sleeping when at around 2.30 a.m. on December 13, their landlord knocked the door. The girls had suspected his attention and refused to open their door. The consequences was not good, he repeatedly barged the door, abusing them for the delay in letting him in. Frightened and hapless, the girls had pleaded for mercy. They even requested to meet them in the morning. The landlord was adamant to sneak into their room. The girls tried to call SOS of Police, which did not work out. Later they raised an alarm for a Manipuri friend, who also stays in the same locality. When they came to rescue the girls, the landlord and his gangs had beaten them and chased away. Thereafter, the two girls were tortured, abused, and molested. They were confined to secluded room and even threatened to rape them. All their belongings were looted- money, cloths and camera.
The event should not be taken lightly. We should pledge this one to be the last incidence of crime against our girls. We need to unite and come together to protect ourselves. Integrity and unity is the answer now. The north east states of India are divided into different communities and sub-castes, may be 500 groups (both officially and non officials). These fragmentation and division make us weak and powerless in any issues. Our road to solidarity is often a failure. We are unable to punish culprits in the earlier molestations or rape cases. This encourages the offenders to continue their exploitations and tortures our girls from time to time. They have taken undue advantages of the internal differences and clashes among us. Collectively, we should have a powerful voice soon!
North East girls are the most beautiful female in India. Their looks are so innocent, pure and symbol of truth and sincerity. They always respect the elders, addressing - bhaiya, uncleji, auntyji etc. This makes them extraordinary from other girls. However, they have been harassed, abused and discriminated every day. They are the cynosure of soring eyes. No one spares them - shopkeepers, auto rickshaw drivers and bus conductors. The people from mainland forget to realize these girls have travelled 4000 kilometers from their home to study and work.
There are also girls from other states of India. And not a single report of rape, molestation or eve-teasing against the girls from Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Bihar. However, we heard of raping and molesting foreign tourists from countries like Germany, France, Japan, China and other South Asian countries in Rajasthan, Goa or Delhi. Can we compare our girls with these foreigners? Is this the reason for sexually abusing NE girls? Are we alien here in India or some refugees from foreign countries? If they regard us as foreigner, then our struggle for a separate country is legitimate and politically acceptable? If it is a fact, then the Central government should proclaimed to the world that North Eastern states were never a part of India. Otherwise, they should protect and take necessary actions to save our integrity and community from further exploitations in Delhi or other Indian cities.
What are those physical structures in our girls that are a subject of sexual abuses and crimes? Do they have more curves than those North Indian girls, fetish or more hot (often a term used by North Indian man to describe a woman). Are our girls used to reveal their assets or body more than Bipasha, Mallika Sherawat or Rakhi Sawant? Does our girls dressed tight tops, jeans, and deep cut blouses? No one would ever find any of our girls in such wardrobe mismanagement. The people of Manipur have already designed 32 different kinds of dresses during 12th century A.D. At that time, Indians were still uncertain of what to wear and how to dress sensibly. Then it is injustice on the part of Delhi authorities to impose a dress code for the NE girls only. Instead they should dictate strict rules on Delhi's landlord, Paying Guest owners and police personals to protect and care our girls. The mainstream media should stop representing stereotype image of our girls as easily available for party, enjoyment and sex.
We also need to know why the Biharis (people from Bihar) owners and managers of small private company always search for NE girls as their Personal Secretaries or Receptionists or sales girls in shopping malls. Why the fashion photographers wants models or new face from our region for bold, inner wears or compromising photo shoots? Why so many beauty parlors recruit our innocent girls? Why we have started a so called live-in culture in rented rooms, misguiding to our landlords as brother-sister relationship. Why so many MMS scandals are uploaded online which depicts immoral acts of our own girls and boys? And why our parents and guardians do not think twice to question what type of jobs their daughters are doing - part time, freelance or full time? We need to critically analyze these unsolved myths, if we want to protect further crimes on our community.
Most of our girls are staying in posh colonies of New Friends Colony (near Jamia Milia Islamia), South Extension Part I and II, Vasant Kunj, Greater Kailash I and II, Munirka, Lajpat Nagar and Kotla in South Delhi. Every weekend, these girls will end up in some bars around Defence Colony, M- Block market of Greater Kailash or Vasant Kunj. They are also seen in McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Multiplexes like the PVR, 3C's or the WAVES. Often they have a fluent accent in US or UK English, lavish lifestyles and extravagance in Shopping Malls. No one could say they are our girls. It seems they felt inferior to converse in our own regional dialects. We could see our girls in public places like Ansal Plaza or Lodhi Gardens cajoling, hugging and kissing their so called lovers (mostly outsiders - people not from our region). When they saw us among the crowd, they used to ignore our presence. Such behaviors, if properly noticed by the outsiders would surely think the girls have no one to protect their chastity or morality. And the horrifying tales of exploitations, molestations and rapes continues like the Dhaula Kuan car rape case, Munirka business woman case and the North Campus cyber café case.
The role of state government is to deploy one of the state battalion in Delhi with a sole purpose of protecting our own sisters from the gangs of Northern India. We may approach the state government of 8 states to send security forces. It may be the Manipur Rifles, the Sikkim Police, Assam police or Nagaland police. There are battalions of Tamil Nadu police in Delhi. Such presence of our police force will discourage the people from eve teasing or harassments to our girls. Our girls may also feel safe and secure then.
The MPs from our region should collectively work, forgetting about their political affiliations and voiced for a North East Women Commission, in line with National Commission for Women (NCW). If there can be DONER to look after the development of our region, why can't we have separate women commission to protect our girls at National level. They should pressurize the centre to pass a Bill for the protection and preservation of our identity, culture and unity.
It is a good sign that many student organizations based in Delhi are expressing their support for the cause of NE states. Organizations like the Manipur Student Association of Delhi (MSAD) and Assam Student Association of Delhi (ASAD) are spearheading recent issue of molestations on our girls. We need more voluntary participations from Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh to have more impact on our cause for unity and integrity. We also need International organizations like Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters (FASS) to support our mission of uniting the region. Most importantly, we should respect our traditions and cultures. We cannot duplicate other's lifestyle which have no place in our society!
Mohen Naorem is a freelance media consultant and editor of The Manipur Journal, [http://www.manipurjournal.com]
