Two years is
a very long time. But what would it be for those who are living with
severe traumatized past? Even a single day would have stretched like a
millennium. Ugly memories of rape, molestation, loss, shame,
helplessness, forced upon them still haunts their everyday lives to numb
them. But this, unfortunately, is the fate of the 27 Hmar sisters in
Tipaimukh who were unmercifully molested sexually and raped by the
cadres of the UNLF and KCP armed outfits in January 2006.
Whatever post-traumatic treatments, if they were given any, the victims
underwent to heal the pains they were forcefully made to endure; the
scars will live with them and their families throughout their lives. If
only one can turn back the hands of time to save them from the ordeals
those savages made them to bear forever. But we can do nothing about it
now, can we?
Instead of giving them solace, security and what is owed to them, we
continue to deny them their rightful rights, dignity and justice which
are only how we can assist them. Instead, the greedy and unaccounted
lots even grasp those away from them because they are no lesser than
those savages who committed the unpardonable crime. Without any remorse,
they dare to stand along with those who committed the crime.
And some of those are so obsessed to cross-examine those unfortunate
sisters; they failed to reason that what they are doing increases the
injustice done to them. They assume their obsession to be legally
binding and right for a just deliverance of justice. Relentlessly, they
think they are right but they are all wrong in whatever sense and in
whatever stand they take.
The Rajkhowa Commission was instituted on March 18, 2006 by the Govt. of
Manipur under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 to investigate the
authenticity of the ‘alleged’ molestation and rape of Hmar girls and
women in Tipaimukh. The judicial commission is neither a trial court nor
is the case a trial case. In such a scenario, how is it possible that
the accused and the victims are regarded as under-trials who are to be
cross-examined? Is not the testimony of those distressed rape victims
enough? Why has there been no demand for the accused to testify? What
about cross-examining the accused? Where has the accused vanished? Have
all of them been exterminated or concealed to bury the truth?
The fact that Rajkhowa Inquiry Commission is being roughshod by frontal
groups of those outfits to which the accused belong, by their demands to
cross-examine the victims is not only pathetic but is further evidence
of the depth of muddy river Manipur is swimming. This also further
undermines the sincerity and effectiveness of the State-instituted
Rajkhowa Commission of Inquiry for what it was setup to accomplish. If
it cannot act effectively on its own, using the power available at its
disposal, how and when can there be the deliverance of justice for the
tormented victims? Was the establishment of the Commission merely to
whitewash the unlawful wrongs done?
Mention may be made that the Commissions of Inquiry Act does not give
the rights to cross-examine victims. There is no mention in any sections
of the Act that the victims can be cross-examined. The attempt to
cross-examine them is legally not binding. The Rajkhowa Commission
should not have bow down to such outrageous demands made by the rapists’
representatives, namely the Human Rights Alert (HRA) and Manipur Forward
Youth Front (MAFYF).
As if these are not enough, the frequent extensions of the 2-month
deadline for the inquiry report and postponement of the supposedly
cross-examinations due to some silly excuses is an evidence of how
sickening the process of justice is in Manipur, especially for women
victims. Justice can never be delivered in this stance. This is a
mockery of the judicial system in the country.
The Rajkhowa Commission interviewed and took the testimony of the
molested and rape victims at Tipaimukh on April, 2006. When the
commission was instituted, the deadline to submit the report was within
two months. With a series of postponement since then, the report of the
Commission’s inquiry is still pending to be submitted. Who knows, the
report may never be submitted or made public.
The coldness of the Ibobi-led Manipur government attitude against the
distraught rape victims is very obvious by its failure to organize any
trauma counseling for them. Unethically, the state government has never
ever stepped forward to help them cope with the traumatic experience
they are still going through.
Till today, even the Interim Relief of Rupees 1 lakh each that was
promised to those who testified before the Rajkhowa Commission, just
before the State General Election in 2007, has never materialized. It is
frightfully shameful how much the Government has come down by playing
around with victims of rape and molestation.
If it is for the victims of landmines, floods, bomb blasts, accidents,
and rape in the valleys, it acts very effectively. Even if relief is
provided at all, the biasness of the government against the hill peoples
can be differentiated from the amount of relief money given to them
against those from the valleys.
The government and the civil society should stop abusing the judicial
system in the country and stand up against the same. The raped and
molested victims of Tipaimukh should be honored with their rights and
justice without fail and without delay.
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