IMPHAL, October 23: The current trend of mob-justices and formation of the Joint Action Committee in the State has created much hindrances and resulted in delaying of police investigation especially in cases related to crime, said SP Imphal West Dr AK Jhaljit during a one day consultation workshop on Gender, Human rights and Violence Against Women at the Classic Hotel today.
The workshop was held for religious leaders, intellectuals, police officers, judiciary, NGOs leaders, and victims of VAW, and was jointly organised by the United NGOs Mission Manipur (UNMM) and Women Action for Development (WAD).
Speaking on the topic ‘professional experiences and challenges/difficulties specially in dealing with crime against women’, the SP said we live in a patriarchal society and considering the rapid rise in crimes against women in recent times, there is bleak hope of women gaining in status in our society.
He further talked on the need to put a check on the crimes committed against women and even those committed on men.
Addressing crimes against women is one of the biggest challenges, the police officer said.
Mob justices and the formation of JAC tend to hinder police investigations as such acts divert the attention from the real case, he observed.
United NGOs Mission Manipur secretary U Nabakishore spoke on the topic ‘Alternative mechanism for the trial in relation to CAW.
He said the State has witnessed a rapid rise in the number of sexual violence cases during the past few decades.
There is no concrete cause or root cause for sexual violence, he observed.
He said random surveys of sexual violence has pointed out that most rapists are mostly relatives or neighbours of the victims and as such the victims are murdered after rape.
One of the major reasons for the rise in crimes witnessed in the State could be corruption, he said.
Combating corruption is one major challenge of the people, he added.
And in order to fight corruption we need anti-corruption cell in every level, he added.
He further said that South Korea and Singapore are some countries which were once gripped in corruption but with the peoples’ active participation in fighting against the practice, corruption has been reduced to the minimum.
The one day consultation workshop was also attended by director Women Study Centre, Manipur University Prof N Pramodini, department of Linguistics; president High Court Bar Association Manipur Khumanlambam Bijoy, senior advocate; epidemiologist State TB Hospital Dr Sadhana and president All Manipur working Journalists’ Union Wangkhemcha Shamjai as resource persons.