Massive protest meet against molestation case.
Staff reporter
GUWAHATI, July 13 – A number of organisations including women organisations today organised a protest meet under the aegis of North East Network in protest against the molestation of a young girl in the city on July 10.
Extending solidarity to the protest were Assam Mahila Samata Society, Assam Mahila Sangha, Anwesha, Action Aid, Eastern India Women’s Association, Foundation for Social Transformation, Jonaki Baat, Manab Adhikar Sangram Samiti, Nirjatan Birodhi Aikyo Mancha, Pragatishil Nari Sanstha, Rashtriya Gramin Vikash Nidhi, Snehalaya, TISS-NE, Women Power Connect and Women Legal Aid Cell.
The organizations called for stopping gender-based violence in the name of moral policing.
“What happened on Monday evening of July 10 is an assault not on a girl but also on the freedom of the individual in a public space. The incident of chasing and sexually abusing the teenager in full glare of TV camera in the late evening hours at GS Road, Guwahati, is barbarous and most disturbing,” the protesting organisations said in a statement.
Stating that had it been a stray incident it could have been termed as an aberrational human behaviour, the statement said that rather there was a trend and pattern in it, and that the legitimization of such violence inflicted upon women was most objectionable.
“Clearly, there has been an alarming increase of such incidents in the recent past, and what is unfortunate about these crimes is that they are often sought to be justified on premises of a severely gendered moral policing and therefore seek to reinforce patriarchal structures,” it added.
The organisations also criticized the media – the electronic media in particular – for the “constant hype and insensitive projection of such events which has led to a lopsided public opinion in society.
“As if committing the crime is not enough, it has also to be videotaped and telecast and graphically described and published in the news. The objective is not to prevent recurrence of such incidents but to play with the voyeuristic pleasure of the diseased minds for narrow business interests,” it said.
Urging the authorities – the administration and the Government – to play their required role at the earliest and bring the culprits to book and also to prevent recurrence of such crimes, the organisations appealed to all right-thinking citizens to rise to the occasion and protest such vile and demonic acts.
“In homes, schools, communities we must sensitize our younger generation against such brutalities and keep a watchful eye so that the slightest indication of incidents are reported to the police and followed through for action to be taken thereof,” it said.
Original Story: Massive Protest Meet Against Molestation Case
