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Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 21
Despite the “capital punishment” served to two of the five accused in the March 25 rape case, the question of rape fails to find a concrete answer not because the people are unaware but that the real causes of rape continue to elude understanding.
Additional Superintendent of Dimapur Police, VZ Angami, opined that the society is also to blame as everyone has a role to play in curbing crime. As most rapists are from broken families, society should play a constructive role to make them responsible members. Besides, the ASP pointed out the rampant circulation of pornographic materials in the market as another cause for the increasing number of rape. Only recently in June, the Dimapur police cracked down on mobile downloading and repairing shops and arrested seventeen shopkeepers in the city who were found to be involved in offering pornographic videos clips to mobile phone users. The activity is still continuing although mobile downloading shopkeepers are now more cautious.
The internet is also said to be another place where pornographic materials are accessed easily by citizens, mostly by youngsters. “If you go to an internet parlour and see the browsing history, then all the sites visited would be of pornographic websites,” said a concerned citizen of Dimapur. There are many who agree that crimes like rape and domestic violence are social problems and the only way to check them is to return to the root for answers – the family and the society.
In a related matter, the member secretary of Nagaland Women Commission, Lithrongla G Chishi, when contacted, disclosed that the NSWC has written a letter to the Chief Secretary of Nagaland to convene a meeting to discuss elaborately the issue of rape. She said the causes of rape are still unknown and that remedial measures have to be set to check it. This is for the reason neither prosecution nor execution are preventive measures but, she said, is simply like prescribing ‘Paracetamol to check rise in body temperature’. She informed that the commission has requested the government to convene a meeting of all stakeholders and also the Centre for Women Studies of Nagaland University so that an in-depth study can be undertaken.
In the month of May, 2009, the Naga Hoho summoned a consultative meeting particularly with all women organizations and representatives of different Naga tribe leaders from all Naga areas in Kohima. For many intellectuals and concerned citizens, the issue of rape remains not only a crime but also a great social concern.
Many feel that the present conflict situation in the Nagas’ society is fuelling rape, while there are others who disclaim so. “Rape is happening even in places where there is no conflict,” a government college principal once said. Others think it is the angst of youth, westernisation, pornography or simply moral degeneration. Religious leaders blame rape on moral degeneration and the breakdown of family values.
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