Correspondent
IMPHAL, MAY 7
[dropcap]A[/dropcap] total of 68 cases of various forms of crimes against women and children including 16 rape cases have been reported in the last four months of the current year in Manipur.
Among them, there are 15 murder cases, 16 rape cases of which six are gang rape, nine assault cases, three cyber crime, nine suicide cases, two molest cases, seven child trafficking cases, etc, according to Manipur based Women Action for Development (WAD).
Among the districts, Imphal West district which has highest number of population, recorded the highest number of cases (25 cases), while Senapati and Ukhrul districts have recorded just one case each. There are 17 cases each in Imphal East and Thoubal districts, seven cases in Bishnupur, three cases each in Churachandpur and Chandel districts and seven cases occurred outside Manipur.The Thoubal police station had experienced as many as six cases, followed by seven cases in Heingang police station, four in Irilbung both in Imphal East district, three cases each in Moirang in Bishnupur, Kakching in Thoubal and Lamphel in Imphal West districts. Singjamei police station also recorded two such cases.
WAD also deeply condemned the brutal killing of a seven-year-old girl named Simaran, daughter of Md Doctor from Moijingkhong Manung, Thoubal district who went missing since May 5 and found murdered on the following day.
With this, the spontaneity of crimes against women and children in the state has been a question to wonder, says Secretary Sobita Mangsatabam of WAD in a release. Despite various efforts made by several civil society organizations, the rate has been escalating at an unstoppable pace.
Many new trends of committing crimes have been witnessed in recent days, the case of cold-blooded murders, cyber crimes, high rates of domestic violence as an impact of drug abuse etc.
Most of the victims belong to the poor section while recent trends of cold blooded murders are committed by the drug abusers. Crimes reported from the Muslim community gains a record high in recent days. Minors from Children Home became a target of some Insurgency groups to extort money and are fondly exposed to arms is an en-route to child soldier which is a violation of child rights and Geneva Convention. The crimes against the under aged minors below eight years and the mounting of cyber crime rate have been witnessed in recent times, the release added.
Many arrested convicts of crimes against women and children are yet to be charge-sheeted thus delay in delivering justice. Lack of improper investigation system and lack of modernization measure leads to the increase in number of pending cases related to crimes against women and children thereby steep-rising the rate of crimes it the State,she added in the release.
Rape accused sent to jail: The accused rapist S Ngaopuni (65) has been sent into jail after he was produced before the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Imphal West,reports available here said.
Ngaopuni who hails from a village in Senapati district is presently staying in Poumai Colony at Chingmeirong near Imphal.
He was arrested on the charge of raping a 13 years old girl on the pretext of arranging for her to cast vote impersonating his daughter who is studying outside the state on April 17 this year. The court has remanded him in the judicial custody for 15 days and asked him to produce on May 21.
It may be mentioned that the representatives of the Manipur Gurkha Students Union, the Bharatiya Gurkha Parisangma, Gurkha Welfare Union have been demanding justice into the rape incident and follow up incidents wherein another Gorkha student activist was killed in police firing at Kanglatongbi in Senapati district.
