IMPHAL, March 4: North-East Forum for International Solidarity (NEFIS) has strongly condemned the assault on a Manipuri woman, who was spat upon, beaten and dragged by a man in Vakola area in Mumbai on Saturday, which highlights the rampant discrimination faced by the North-East community in metropolitan cities.
NEFIS in a press release pointed out that the case reveals the insensitive and apathetic attitude of the State machinery and police in cases concerning sexual harassment and violence against North-east Women in particular and women in general.
The reprehensible attitude of police in the whole matter is shocking, as it treated the complaint by the victim, as a non-cognizable offence. Policemen ignored her request for an FIR and merely registered a non-cognizable offence (NC), it said.
The organization contended that even in that complaint, the officer on duty made no mention of molestation, even though the victim showed him her torn clothes.
Condemning such racist attacks on the North-East people, who migrate to mainland India in search of better educational and employment which are denied to them back home, NEFIS demanded the Maharashtra Government to immediately suspend those police personnel involved in the shameful act of registering this grave matter as a non-cognizable offence.
It also demanded that the government should immediately look into the incident and redress the problems faced by the North-East community in the city.