The disempowerment of women and breakdown of the traditional systems in the Communist regime have resulted in a huge spurt of crimes against women in Tripura
Tripura is known for its rich cultural heritage, together with its arts & crafts but rising incidents of crimes against women all over the State have destroyed the image of Tripura.
In a recent incident, a 14-year old tribal girl was kidnapped and then gang-raped on January 26, 2016, in presence of her brother in Mohanpur subdivision of Tripura state. The offenders are roaming freely and are yet to be arrested. An FIR was filed by police only after a strong protest by the local people. Eventually, the depressed victim even tried to commit suicide by consuming poison. In the meantime, Tripura Chief Minister, Manik Sarkar, the ‘poor’ leader of an impoverished State couldn’t find time to visit the poor tribal girl who is still recuperating in the ICU at Agartala’s GB hospital. CPM’s national General Secretary, Sitaram Yechury, visted Agartala recently but paying a visit to this hapless victim was not on his agenda too. What else is required to assess the insensitivity of CPM on issues of crimes against women in states under their own rule?
Surprisingly, the insensitive Tripura administration did not bear the medical expenses of the girl despite a judicial order. Finally, Tripura BJP assisted the family by giving them fifty thousand rupees.
We often hear innumerable communist ‘intellectuals’ bragging about human rights in general and women rights in particular on TV debates. Desperate to take out candle-light protest marches in broad daylight in front of waiting news cameras, these Leftist activists keep shouting shrill slogans about crimes against women in non-CPM-ruled states-day-in and day-out! Owing to this shrill propaganda; one could be hardly blamed to envisage CPM-ruled states as islands of peace and tranquility for women of those states. But shockingly, states like CPM-ruled Tripura and the former CPM-bastion West Bengal frequently top the national charts in crimes against women. Such is the hypocrisy of communist propaganda.
According to the 2013 report, published by National Crimes Record Bureau, “Tripura had registered 1628 cases of crimes against women during 2013 including 233 cases of rape and 29 cases of dowry-related deaths”.
Purnima Roy, Chairperson, Tripura Women's Commission says, “The actual number of crimes against women could be much higher as many such incidents remain unreported owing to social stigma of the victims’ families”.
Police, a handmaiden of the CPM
Women organisations report that low conviction rate, lack of prompt action by police and scared victims shying from lodging complaints have resulted in abnormal rise in such crimes. Chandrika Bose Majumder, head of the Women’s Study Centre of Tripura University says, “It seems that police are not handling the cases of atrocities against women sincerely. As a result, in most of the cases, offenders are not meted out exemplary punishment. Inability of the police to take action against the perpetrators without the permission of local CPM administrators has emboldened the criminals. Systematic political interference in all government departments by the CPM has resulted in a “committed-to-CPM bureaucracy”, resulting in notoriously ineffective governance in Tripura.
Many decades of Communist rule in Tripura has had a negative effect on the preservation of ancient traditions of Tripura. The ideologies of the Communists have never been known to be women friendly. The culture of Tripura needs to be restored to its pre-Communist era where respect for women was a way of life for the people in the State.
Organiser Bureau
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