An adivasi woman, victim of assault and molestation, has criticised the National Commission for Women for its alleged discriminatory attitude in dealing with such cases.
Laxmi Oraon was stripped and assaulted brutally by a mob on the streets of Guwahati during a protest rally in 2007. Laxmi, then a 19-year-old girl, had come to the city from far-flung Sonitpur district to participate in a demonstration by adivasis seeking ST status.
“I sympathise with the July 9 victim. She deserves all the attention and care, but was the trauma that I went through lesser than what she is going through now,” she asked. The reason behind Laxmi’s ire was that she was not properly cared and rehabilitated.
On that day, the mob was so furious that it went on with its attack on Laxmi even after she was stripped.
“The attack on me was perhaps more dreadful. I can never forget that. It happened in daylight but I was ignored. Why this discrimination? You can’t discriminate against a woman simply because she is an adivasi belonging to a poor family in a backward village,” Laxmi argued. When asked about the case, NCW chairperson Mamata Sharma said the Commission would reopen the case of Oraon if need be.
“I am not aware of the status of that case as I took over only about 10 months back. The Commission will reopen it if need be,” she said.
Sharma was in Guwahati to submit the recommendations of the Commission’s fact-finding team, which looked into the July 9 molestation case, to the chief minister. The Commission asked the media to be sensitive to cases involving the modesty of women.
While demanding that the culprits be booked and punished as according to law, the Commission recommended psychological counseling for the victim. It also recommended that the victim should be provided financial and medical aid besides shelter. “The committee recommends to rehabilitate the victim in government job in accordance with state policy or otherwise,” Sharma said reading out the recommendations.
The Commission also demanded action against the erring police personnel and those who witnessed the incident as mute spectators.
Meanwhile, Atanu Bhuyan, who resigned as the editor-in-chief of the channel that aired the molestation incident, found himself in a tight spot after a woman lodged a complaint alleging that Bhuyan had issued threats to her through text messages. Bhuyan was interrogated by the police and his mobile phones were checked before he was allowed to go.
