Chizami, June 14 (MExN): The Chizami Women Society (CWS) has expressed shock and anguish over the alleged physical assault of a woman farmer belonging to Chizami village on June 13 and has condemned the incident.
In a press release, the CWS claimed that the woman was assaulted by a “group of men from Thetsumi village” at Chuti, Chizami village while she was working in her paddy field.
Narrating the chain of event, the CWS informed that the victim along with other family members and friends went to their field at Chuti for paddy transplantation on June 13.
As they were working in the paddy nursery, she received a phone call from a family member asking if the situation in their field is peaceful, as there were some disturbances in other fields, it said.
Seeing two men lurking nearby and more approaching at a distance, they immediately rushed to their fields from nursery bed when they were stopped by “men from Thetsumi village, who forcibly grabbed their baskets and threw them away,” the release alleged.
When she tried to call her family on the mobile phone, a man allegedly “grabbed and punched” her and threw it way, it said.
While they managed to escape, she saw the “men destroying the paddy saplings in the nursery beds."
“Baskets were cut into pieces. Dao and other agricultural equipment were seized and thrown away. Terrace field bunds and irrigation canals were completely destroyed,” the CWS further alleged.
On reaching home, the victim’s condition worsened and the family members took her to Community Health Centre, Chizami where she is still receiving treatment, it informed.
The society noted that the victim is “mentally and emotionally traumatised, and physically wounded,” and added that she was “unarmed and peacefully working in her field and pose no threat to anyone whatsoever.”
Accordingly, the CWS stated that the act “deserves the highest condemnation from every section of the society” and appealed the law enforcement agencies to investigate the assault “with utmost urgency and book the perpetrators and prosecute them as per the existing laws in the interest of justice.”
It further denounced the acts of burning down the huts and destroying the crops that the farmers have “toiled through the years.”
"The rampage and wanton destruction caused should be thoroughly investigated and due compensation be given to the affected farmers," the CWS stated in the release issued by its Chairperson Kezunyipeu Tsuhah.
Meanwhile, it was informed that a First Information Report (FIR) has also been filed at the Chizami Police Station by the CWS regarding the incident.
The CWS has also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner Phek and Nagaland State Commission for Women.
