“Come One, Come All” was the
slogan at the Nyishi Dignity Rally on September 13. A report in the
Times of India which was critical of the Nyishi tribe has brought the
community together in a concerted effort to get to the root of the
story. TERESA REHMAN reports. Pix: The rally at Itanagar
|
Posted/Updated Thursday, Sep 15 18:24:14, 2011
|
After
waiting for justice for several months the Nyishi tribe of Arunachal
Pradesh came out in a huge rally at Itanagar to demand action on a
report they dubbed as being communally insensitive and aimed at dividing
the state. “Come One, Come All” was the slogan at the Nyishi Dignity
Rally on September 13. Scores of people from the tribe, the single
largest tribe of the state, thronged the state capital with umbrellas to
beat the scorching heat at the rally organized by the All Nyishi
Student’s Union (ANSU) and the Nyishi Elite Society (NES).
The cause of their ire was a report which had ‘derogatory’ remarks against the Nyishis published in The Times of India
on May 4. This news report by Pradeep Thakur is alleged to have drawn a
wedge between the different tribes of the state and the protestors
smell a larger political conspiracy, including the involvement of the
present chief minister Jarbom Gamlin. The report stated that Nabam Tuki,
who was a frontrunner in the race for the Arunachal Pradesh chief
minister’s post after the death of Dorjee Khandu, belonged to the
"Nyishi tribe, which doesn't enjoy a good rapport among other tribes".
The massive rally was organized after five months of protests including three bandh calls by the ANSU. They gave a seven-day ultimatum to the government to solve the issue and meet their main demands - immediate arrest of Thakur, unconditional apology, revelation of source of derogatory remarks and detailed call records of his two phone numbers.
The protests started right after the
report was published. ANSU had lodged an FIR with Arunachal Pradesh
Director General of Police demanding Thakur’s arrest for disturbing
communal peace. On May 13 ANSU had submitted memorandum demanding an
enquiry and action. As a knee-jerk reaction, a committee headed by
Minister of Health and Family Welfare Attum Welly, was formed. The
government also formed a second committee headed by state Home Minister
Takar Marde but it could come to no logical conclusion.
On the other hand, the Times of India Group has pulled down the content that offended the Nyishi Community and has apologized on May 26, 2011. They wrote, “We wish to state that the report, which has since been removed from the website, was based on the assessment in political circles here, and that we did not intend to hurt the sentiments of Nyishis or any other community. We regret any offence that we may have inadvertently caused and wish the best to the people of Arunachal Pradesh.” Thakur has also tendered an unconditional apology but the agitated tribes have not been pacified as the source of the remarks has not been divulged nor have the details of call records been given. Organisations like the All Mishmi Students Union(AMSU) and Dibang Adi Students Union (DASU) also condemned the news report by Thakur.
"This sort of negative mindset by
mainland Indian people does not augur well for a secular country like
India," DASU stated in a press release. In a poignant comment to the
media, the president of the ANSU said, “India is a democratic country.
Each one of us has our own set of responsibilities including the media
which has been endorsed by the Constitution of India. The strength of
the Constitution lies on ‘We the People’. And you can see the people
here.”
Interestingly, this mass rally against a media report was extensively covered by the local and regional media. In fact, NETV, a satellite channel aired from Guwahati even covered the rally live. And one of the organizers of the rally was effusive in thanking the print and electronic media for their support. |
Showing posts with label arunachal pradesh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arunachal pradesh. Show all posts
Friday, September 16, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Arunachal Justice
By Teresa Rehman
The state finally has a jail, but it remains far from adequate.
In late 2009, Arunachal Pradesh opened its first jail, five years after its construction had been completed. But little did the batch of 19 under-trial prisoners who were transferred at the time realise that they were a blessed lot. They had escaped a fate that, since the state’s creation in 1987, all others in their situation had been forced to undergo, involving not only appalling lack of hygiene for prisoners but blatantly illegal judicial procedures. The opening of the new jail constitutes a silver lining of sorts in the series of untold narratives of gross human-rights violations that have constituted standard procedure for prisoners awaiting trial in the state. Until the recent change, Arunachal had been the only state in India where ‘police remand’ and ‘judicial remand’ meant the same thing. In most parts of the state, it still does.
Take the example of Hura Rari, a middle-aged businessman from Naharlagun in Arunachal. For 14 months, Rari was held in custody on kidnapping charges in a dark, dingy lock-up at a police station. At the time, Rari’s situation was similar to all of those awaiting or undergoing trial in the state. Even today, many police stations have two separate cells – one for police lock-up and another for judicial lock-up. Some suspects are forced to remain in the police station for three or four years, until they are convicted or released on bail. (If convicted, prisoners are transferred to district jails in Assam.) These police cells can become so overcrowded that prisoners take turns sleeping while the rest stand. Beyond the aesthetics and physical discomforts, this is a gross violation of the Prisons Act of 1894, which clearly states that a ‘prison’ cannot include ‘any place for the confinement of prisoners who are exclusively in the custody of the police’.
After his 14-month stint, Rari was fortunate to receive bail on health grounds. (His case is still under trial.) But he shudders today as he recalls his confinement at the Ziro police station in Lower Subansiri district. He says that an average of five to ten prisoners were held in his lock-up every day, accused of crimes from murder and rape to arson and theft. The room had no fan, mosquito net or light, and little ventilation; although there was an attached toilet, it had limited water, with a grimy toilet that was only cleaned once during his stay. ‘One day, there were around 20 prisoners in the cell, and we held a strike as the food was inedible,’ he says. ‘Things improved for a few days, but then it was back to square one again.’ Rari adds that he was lucky to get out when he did; another man in the cell, accused of murder, had been there for nine years.
Even the opening of the new jail – in Jollang, near the capital, Itanagar – is far from adequate in this massive state of more than 83,700 sq km. Sunil Mow, a lawyer with the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), an NGO, says, ‘One jail in Itanagar cannot serve the entire state. There are eight districts in eastern Arunachal and eight districts in western Arunachal. The jail is a one- to two-day journey from some of these remote districts, and in these areas those who are under trial are still being kept in inhuman conditions in police lock-ups.’
The plight of women prisoners remains particularly difficult. In 2006, a woman prisoner was raped in the lock-up at Deomali police station, in Tirap district. The officer-in-charge was the main accused, and was eventually dismissed from his job. Mapung Tadar, vice-chairperson of the State Commission for Women, says that due to the ongoing lack of infrastructure, adult women are being kept with minor juveniles. Unfortunately, this ‘solution’ only compounds a central problem in the Arunachal judicial system: a lack of facilities leading to adults and juveniles being dealt with together while awaiting or on trial.
What child?
For the past decade, the Arunachal state administration has been blatantly flouting the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000, which states that no child can be put in a jail or a lock-up. In addition, a Juvenile Justice Board is supposed to be constituted for each district or group of districts, consisting of two social workers and a magistrate. This is an attempt to change the nature of inquiry in the state, with the presence of the social workers indicating a decriminalisation of the administration of juvenile justice. Yet no Juvenile Justice Board or Court has been constituted, nor has any observation home (a temporary shelter for juveniles), anywhere in the state. Thus, juveniles arrested in connection with criminal cases are still tried by judicial magistrates and kept along with adult inmates in police custody. Sunil Mow cites numerous instances of children below 18 lodged in Arunachal lock-ups along with hardcore criminals, some for upwards of four years.
For instance, 12-year-old Arjun (name changed) was arrested by the Itanagar police for petty stealing – blankets, plastic cups, etc. He was lodged in the Itanagar police station on two occasions, once for five months and again for nine months, both times with adult criminals. Arjun says he was verbally abused by both the police and others in the lock-up, at times allegedly being forced to massage some of the other prisoners. The long incarceration made him weak mentally and physically; now 16, he complains of chest pain and headaches, and is on painkillers and antibiotics for some of the injuries he suffered while in detention. Arjun’s mother recalls, ‘He used to send me a list of medicines, soap, oil and other essentials. The blankets were full of lice, and when I brought him home I had to wash him down with Dettol.’
Another juvenile, Sonia Byabang, was likewise arrested and charged with stealing when he was just 12. ‘I was so young and I didn’t even know what it meant to steal,’ he says. ‘I was just trying to ride my uncle’s motorcycle to meet my father, but the police said I was trying to steal the bike.’ He adds that the police lied, stating in their report that he was 19 years old. Thereafter, he spent two months at the police lock-up in the Itanagar police station. After he was released, Byabang says that he did felt ‘tainted’, and began staying away from school and his friends. Thereafter, he says, the police made him a regular scapegoat, and repeatedly picked him up on suspicion for various crimes.
Still, some have been able to challenge such procedures. Chelle John was 13 years old when he was detained along with adult criminals, and subsequently brought a case before the courts on the issue. He underwent testing at a hospital and was certified below 18 years of age. Needless to say, such cases underline the susceptibility of the Arunachal criminal-justice system to manipulation. While the opening of the new jail is a positive step in terms of ameliorating some outstanding rights issues, it is hardly an answer to the problems faced by juveniles awaiting justice in the state.
Bureaucrat judge
Justice moves notoriously slowly in Arunachal, with trials invariably delayed. Much of this is due to the fact that the executive branch of the state government doubles as the judiciary in the lower courts, thus requiring, for instance, the deputy commissioner to act as the district sessions judge. As such, the accused are often forced to languish even longer in lock-ups, as government officials give priority to their routine administrative work. Of course, the pace can quicken dramatically if the accused can afford a lawyer.
In this regard, most worrying is the ramification that the lower judiciary in Arunachal is not independent, but rather is a specific part of the government machinery. ‘All these years,’ Sunil Mow says, ‘bureaucrats with practically no knowledge of law have been making a mockery of the entire judicial system.’ Recently, two session courts were set up in Arunachal, one to cover the western half and another to cover the eastern half of the state. Although again an important step in the right direction, a mere two courts remain far from adequate in a state of this size.
Mow says that the welfare of those awaiting trial has simply never been a priority for the state government, but expresses hope that the opening of the new jail indicates forward momentum on a range of issues. Indeed, another jail is currently being built in Tezu, in the far east, while the 11th Finance Commission granted INR 100 million to build new jail infrastructure. Yet incredibly, out of that money seven new ‘judicial lock-ups’ are now being set up in various police stations – thus continuing to flout basic law. The ‘Arunachal’ version of justice looks set to continue for some time.
--Teresa Rehman is a journalist and media consultant based in Northeast India.
By Teresa Rehman
The state finally has a jail, but it remains far from adequate.
In late 2009, Arunachal Pradesh opened its first jail, five years after its construction had been completed. But little did the batch of 19 under-trial prisoners who were transferred at the time realise that they were a blessed lot. They had escaped a fate that, since the state’s creation in 1987, all others in their situation had been forced to undergo, involving not only appalling lack of hygiene for prisoners but blatantly illegal judicial procedures. The opening of the new jail constitutes a silver lining of sorts in the series of untold narratives of gross human-rights violations that have constituted standard procedure for prisoners awaiting trial in the state. Until the recent change, Arunachal had been the only state in India where ‘police remand’ and ‘judicial remand’ meant the same thing. In most parts of the state, it still does.
Take the example of Hura Rari, a middle-aged businessman from Naharlagun in Arunachal. For 14 months, Rari was held in custody on kidnapping charges in a dark, dingy lock-up at a police station. At the time, Rari’s situation was similar to all of those awaiting or undergoing trial in the state. Even today, many police stations have two separate cells – one for police lock-up and another for judicial lock-up. Some suspects are forced to remain in the police station for three or four years, until they are convicted or released on bail. (If convicted, prisoners are transferred to district jails in Assam.) These police cells can become so overcrowded that prisoners take turns sleeping while the rest stand. Beyond the aesthetics and physical discomforts, this is a gross violation of the Prisons Act of 1894, which clearly states that a ‘prison’ cannot include ‘any place for the confinement of prisoners who are exclusively in the custody of the police’.
After his 14-month stint, Rari was fortunate to receive bail on health grounds. (His case is still under trial.) But he shudders today as he recalls his confinement at the Ziro police station in Lower Subansiri district. He says that an average of five to ten prisoners were held in his lock-up every day, accused of crimes from murder and rape to arson and theft. The room had no fan, mosquito net or light, and little ventilation; although there was an attached toilet, it had limited water, with a grimy toilet that was only cleaned once during his stay. ‘One day, there were around 20 prisoners in the cell, and we held a strike as the food was inedible,’ he says. ‘Things improved for a few days, but then it was back to square one again.’ Rari adds that he was lucky to get out when he did; another man in the cell, accused of murder, had been there for nine years.
Even the opening of the new jail – in Jollang, near the capital, Itanagar – is far from adequate in this massive state of more than 83,700 sq km. Sunil Mow, a lawyer with the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), an NGO, says, ‘One jail in Itanagar cannot serve the entire state. There are eight districts in eastern Arunachal and eight districts in western Arunachal. The jail is a one- to two-day journey from some of these remote districts, and in these areas those who are under trial are still being kept in inhuman conditions in police lock-ups.’
The plight of women prisoners remains particularly difficult. In 2006, a woman prisoner was raped in the lock-up at Deomali police station, in Tirap district. The officer-in-charge was the main accused, and was eventually dismissed from his job. Mapung Tadar, vice-chairperson of the State Commission for Women, says that due to the ongoing lack of infrastructure, adult women are being kept with minor juveniles. Unfortunately, this ‘solution’ only compounds a central problem in the Arunachal judicial system: a lack of facilities leading to adults and juveniles being dealt with together while awaiting or on trial.
What child?
For the past decade, the Arunachal state administration has been blatantly flouting the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000, which states that no child can be put in a jail or a lock-up. In addition, a Juvenile Justice Board is supposed to be constituted for each district or group of districts, consisting of two social workers and a magistrate. This is an attempt to change the nature of inquiry in the state, with the presence of the social workers indicating a decriminalisation of the administration of juvenile justice. Yet no Juvenile Justice Board or Court has been constituted, nor has any observation home (a temporary shelter for juveniles), anywhere in the state. Thus, juveniles arrested in connection with criminal cases are still tried by judicial magistrates and kept along with adult inmates in police custody. Sunil Mow cites numerous instances of children below 18 lodged in Arunachal lock-ups along with hardcore criminals, some for upwards of four years.
For instance, 12-year-old Arjun (name changed) was arrested by the Itanagar police for petty stealing – blankets, plastic cups, etc. He was lodged in the Itanagar police station on two occasions, once for five months and again for nine months, both times with adult criminals. Arjun says he was verbally abused by both the police and others in the lock-up, at times allegedly being forced to massage some of the other prisoners. The long incarceration made him weak mentally and physically; now 16, he complains of chest pain and headaches, and is on painkillers and antibiotics for some of the injuries he suffered while in detention. Arjun’s mother recalls, ‘He used to send me a list of medicines, soap, oil and other essentials. The blankets were full of lice, and when I brought him home I had to wash him down with Dettol.’
Another juvenile, Sonia Byabang, was likewise arrested and charged with stealing when he was just 12. ‘I was so young and I didn’t even know what it meant to steal,’ he says. ‘I was just trying to ride my uncle’s motorcycle to meet my father, but the police said I was trying to steal the bike.’ He adds that the police lied, stating in their report that he was 19 years old. Thereafter, he spent two months at the police lock-up in the Itanagar police station. After he was released, Byabang says that he did felt ‘tainted’, and began staying away from school and his friends. Thereafter, he says, the police made him a regular scapegoat, and repeatedly picked him up on suspicion for various crimes.
Still, some have been able to challenge such procedures. Chelle John was 13 years old when he was detained along with adult criminals, and subsequently brought a case before the courts on the issue. He underwent testing at a hospital and was certified below 18 years of age. Needless to say, such cases underline the susceptibility of the Arunachal criminal-justice system to manipulation. While the opening of the new jail is a positive step in terms of ameliorating some outstanding rights issues, it is hardly an answer to the problems faced by juveniles awaiting justice in the state.
Bureaucrat judge
Justice moves notoriously slowly in Arunachal, with trials invariably delayed. Much of this is due to the fact that the executive branch of the state government doubles as the judiciary in the lower courts, thus requiring, for instance, the deputy commissioner to act as the district sessions judge. As such, the accused are often forced to languish even longer in lock-ups, as government officials give priority to their routine administrative work. Of course, the pace can quicken dramatically if the accused can afford a lawyer.
In this regard, most worrying is the ramification that the lower judiciary in Arunachal is not independent, but rather is a specific part of the government machinery. ‘All these years,’ Sunil Mow says, ‘bureaucrats with practically no knowledge of law have been making a mockery of the entire judicial system.’ Recently, two session courts were set up in Arunachal, one to cover the western half and another to cover the eastern half of the state. Although again an important step in the right direction, a mere two courts remain far from adequate in a state of this size.
Mow says that the welfare of those awaiting trial has simply never been a priority for the state government, but expresses hope that the opening of the new jail indicates forward momentum on a range of issues. Indeed, another jail is currently being built in Tezu, in the far east, while the 11th Finance Commission granted INR 100 million to build new jail infrastructure. Yet incredibly, out of that money seven new ‘judicial lock-ups’ are now being set up in various police stations – thus continuing to flout basic law. The ‘Arunachal’ version of justice looks set to continue for some time.
--Teresa Rehman is a journalist and media consultant based in Northeast India.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh do not conform to the notion of gender equality in tribal societies. Teresa Rehman reports.
Contrary to popular notions of gender equality in tribal societies, there are innumerable cases of unimaginably inhuman treatment meted out to a woman in the name of tradition and clan honour. A predominantly tribal state Arunachal Pradesh, tucked away in the extreme northeastern corner of India is a case in point.
The present Arunachal Pradesh is a conglomeration of 25 tribes and over 100 sub-tribes. Gender differences in basic access reflect deep-rooted biases in social structures and belief systems. And these disparities are reinforced again and again by the tribal customary laws which are often discriminatory towards women. And most often tribal societies do not follow the statutory laws when it comes to marriage, divorce, inheritance etc.
Some of the age-old customary laws, which are ruthlessly patriarchal, have perpetuated social evils and crimes against women. For instance, in 2006, a minor orphan Anga approached the Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women (APSCW) based in Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh and appealed for justice. Her parents had died within a month of each other when she was one year old and she was taken under the care of her cousin brother. When she was 3 years old, she was sold by her cousin to an adult of the same village who was approximately 33 years old at the time of that ‘negotiation’ or so-called marriage.
When she was 6 years old, she was sent to the man’s house. On her attaining puberty at an early age, the middle aged man (now 45 years old) started harassing the little girl to fulfill his carnal desire, claiming that the girl was his traditionally acquired or purchased bride. Helpless after being physically and mentally harassed, Anga ran away in 2003 from the clutches of the man. She tried to survive as a free person for three years whereafter she somehow reached the APSCW with her prayer during March 2006.
The Commission took cognizance of the matter and Anga was provided immediate shelter through the offices of the Deputy Commissioner. The Commission referred the case to the relevant Deputy Commissioner of the area where Anga came from. The case was promptly sent to the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) of the Circle. And the outcome: a unique judgement was passed by the JMFC who restrained the alleged child marriage, under Section 12 of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, and that apart, Anga was freed from the bondage of the alleged child marriage without carrying any liability as to the matter of the bridal price. Today Anga is free and managing her own small enterprise with a small loan arranged out of personal resources of the members of the Commission.
Child marriage, being part of a social evil, is still prevalent in some pockets of the state, with tacit social sanction. In some of the tribes in the state, girl child is treated as a tradable commodity, negotiable for a price determined by parents or guardians of the girl and the male to whom she is bound for matrimony.
In fact, the child brides are often minors within the age group of 7-13 years, while the man to whom they are sold, engaged or wedded are generally men with purchasing power in the age group of 40-70 years. By the time the child bride comes to her senses, she would have been deprived of basic education, of her childhood, often raped and tortured, kept in captivity. Invariably, these victims are young, poor or helpless orphans and the men are from influential backgrounds.
The tribal customary laws contribute to making women socially insignificant. Women are not allowed to inherit immovable parental property and many a times from inheriting even matrimonial property – for example a widow with no male offspring is barred from inheriting any property of a deceased husband which renders her homeless and helpless. In a few cases, a young widow has been dispossessed of her marital property, jointly acquired and owned by her with her deceased husband. Battery, insults, physical and mental harassment, torture and deprivation owing to multiple marriages, rape, gender discrimination are common.
The alarming state of affairs of women is evident in a report on the situational analysis of girls in Arunachal Pradesh by the National Commission for Women and the Arunachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2005. According to the 2001 census, sex ratio in Arunachal Pradesh is 901 females per 1000 males. The child sex ratio has reduced from 982 in 1991 to 964 in 2001 census. The rural child sex ratio has gone down drastically from 986 in 1991 to 957 in 2001 compared to 946 in 1991 to 981 in 2001 in the urban areas.
Although there are no reported cases of sex selective abortions within the state, the members of the Commission has come to know of some cases which took place outside the state. There is also a gender gap of 19.83 percent in education as per the 2001 census. A steep increase in the number of unorganized
sex workers among the indigenous population has also been observed in the last two decades.
The life expectancy for women in Arunachal has also come down to 54.51 percent as compared to the national average of 64.84 percent. Healthwise too, women show a negative trend. 62.5 percent of the married women in the state are anaemic. These concerns are directly proportional to low literacy rates
and low economic independence among women.
The APSCW is working towards speedy and inexpensive justice by adopting many innovative means. They conduct social investigation to get verified information on cases and hold public hearings on such cases which have a wider social issue embroiled into it. Such public hearings are used as a forum for
sensitization on women empowerment. The Commission also embarks on independent fact-finding missions in cases of major criminal offences. In fact, many cases have also been resolved through intensive counselling, especially reconciliations in cases of marital disputes.
The Commission tries as much as possible to involve the police, district administration and nodal departments in ensuring justice. They have also evolved a working relationship with various women organizations in order to raise awareness about women’s rights. There is an urgent need to modify the
discriminatory customary laws without hurting the sentiments of the tribal population.
But there is still a long way to go as statistics reveal that even after 60 years of India’s independence, there is a palpable lack of knowledge and concern about the human rights of women, the Constitutional guarantees and laws of the land that protect the rights of citizens, specially women.
ends
Contrary to popular notions of gender equality in tribal societies, there are innumerable cases of unimaginably inhuman treatment meted out to a woman in the name of tradition and clan honour. A predominantly tribal state Arunachal Pradesh, tucked away in the extreme northeastern corner of India is a case in point.
The present Arunachal Pradesh is a conglomeration of 25 tribes and over 100 sub-tribes. Gender differences in basic access reflect deep-rooted biases in social structures and belief systems. And these disparities are reinforced again and again by the tribal customary laws which are often discriminatory towards women. And most often tribal societies do not follow the statutory laws when it comes to marriage, divorce, inheritance etc.
Some of the age-old customary laws, which are ruthlessly patriarchal, have perpetuated social evils and crimes against women. For instance, in 2006, a minor orphan Anga approached the Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women (APSCW) based in Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh and appealed for justice. Her parents had died within a month of each other when she was one year old and she was taken under the care of her cousin brother. When she was 3 years old, she was sold by her cousin to an adult of the same village who was approximately 33 years old at the time of that ‘negotiation’ or so-called marriage.
When she was 6 years old, she was sent to the man’s house. On her attaining puberty at an early age, the middle aged man (now 45 years old) started harassing the little girl to fulfill his carnal desire, claiming that the girl was his traditionally acquired or purchased bride. Helpless after being physically and mentally harassed, Anga ran away in 2003 from the clutches of the man. She tried to survive as a free person for three years whereafter she somehow reached the APSCW with her prayer during March 2006.
The Commission took cognizance of the matter and Anga was provided immediate shelter through the offices of the Deputy Commissioner. The Commission referred the case to the relevant Deputy Commissioner of the area where Anga came from. The case was promptly sent to the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) of the Circle. And the outcome: a unique judgement was passed by the JMFC who restrained the alleged child marriage, under Section 12 of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, and that apart, Anga was freed from the bondage of the alleged child marriage without carrying any liability as to the matter of the bridal price. Today Anga is free and managing her own small enterprise with a small loan arranged out of personal resources of the members of the Commission.
Child marriage, being part of a social evil, is still prevalent in some pockets of the state, with tacit social sanction. In some of the tribes in the state, girl child is treated as a tradable commodity, negotiable for a price determined by parents or guardians of the girl and the male to whom she is bound for matrimony.
In fact, the child brides are often minors within the age group of 7-13 years, while the man to whom they are sold, engaged or wedded are generally men with purchasing power in the age group of 40-70 years. By the time the child bride comes to her senses, she would have been deprived of basic education, of her childhood, often raped and tortured, kept in captivity. Invariably, these victims are young, poor or helpless orphans and the men are from influential backgrounds.
The tribal customary laws contribute to making women socially insignificant. Women are not allowed to inherit immovable parental property and many a times from inheriting even matrimonial property – for example a widow with no male offspring is barred from inheriting any property of a deceased husband which renders her homeless and helpless. In a few cases, a young widow has been dispossessed of her marital property, jointly acquired and owned by her with her deceased husband. Battery, insults, physical and mental harassment, torture and deprivation owing to multiple marriages, rape, gender discrimination are common.
The alarming state of affairs of women is evident in a report on the situational analysis of girls in Arunachal Pradesh by the National Commission for Women and the Arunachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2005. According to the 2001 census, sex ratio in Arunachal Pradesh is 901 females per 1000 males. The child sex ratio has reduced from 982 in 1991 to 964 in 2001 census. The rural child sex ratio has gone down drastically from 986 in 1991 to 957 in 2001 compared to 946 in 1991 to 981 in 2001 in the urban areas.
Although there are no reported cases of sex selective abortions within the state, the members of the Commission has come to know of some cases which took place outside the state. There is also a gender gap of 19.83 percent in education as per the 2001 census. A steep increase in the number of unorganized
sex workers among the indigenous population has also been observed in the last two decades.
The life expectancy for women in Arunachal has also come down to 54.51 percent as compared to the national average of 64.84 percent. Healthwise too, women show a negative trend. 62.5 percent of the married women in the state are anaemic. These concerns are directly proportional to low literacy rates
and low economic independence among women.
The APSCW is working towards speedy and inexpensive justice by adopting many innovative means. They conduct social investigation to get verified information on cases and hold public hearings on such cases which have a wider social issue embroiled into it. Such public hearings are used as a forum for
sensitization on women empowerment. The Commission also embarks on independent fact-finding missions in cases of major criminal offences. In fact, many cases have also been resolved through intensive counselling, especially reconciliations in cases of marital disputes.
The Commission tries as much as possible to involve the police, district administration and nodal departments in ensuring justice. They have also evolved a working relationship with various women organizations in order to raise awareness about women’s rights. There is an urgent need to modify the
discriminatory customary laws without hurting the sentiments of the tribal population.
But there is still a long way to go as statistics reveal that even after 60 years of India’s independence, there is a palpable lack of knowledge and concern about the human rights of women, the Constitutional guarantees and laws of the land that protect the rights of citizens, specially women.
ends
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