In a society that prides itself as being Christians and following the ten commandments as laid down by God to Moses, it is shocking and disgusting to hear about something so unspeakable as rape, that also perpetrated by a father upon his own daughters. We read of stray rape cases here and there and since such cases are new in our society, or at least such cases are kept hushed up, the general society never gets to hear about these.
In the recent case of the father, who over a span of 5 to 6 years had been indulging in sexual assault and harassment upon his four daughters in turn has shocked the Naga society. His first victim was his eldest daughter. God knows what the poor young girls must have gone through in those harrowing years of suffering their father’s assault; what was the mother doing? Apparently she knew all about it but instead of protecting her daughters, she abetted her husband to the extent of preparing herbal tonic for his prowess, as alleged by the daughters to the police.
Years of abuse and living in abject fear must have finally taken toil and the climax came when the father abused his youngest daughter, a student of Cl VII whereby the elder sisters decided to lodge a complaint to the police accompanied by women activists. Indeed a brave act against all odds. It shocks our sensibilities that this man’s demonic, maniacal lust has destroyed the purity of his own daughters and has exposed them to a lifetime of disgrace. Rape is terrible enough but incestuous rape of a daughter by a father deserves the condemnation of all decent persons, who recognize that a woman’s cherished chastity is hers alone to surrender at her own free will. Whoever violates this norm descends to the level lower than the lowly animal and forfeits all respect otherwise due him as a human being.
The four young girls must have been subjected to threats by the father if they did not comply with his desires and since he was their father who had overpowering moral ascendancy over them, they could not even tell anyone about their plight. They were living with him and dependent on him during the entire period of their tribulations. They were terrified young girls completely at the mercy of their shameless father. One can only imagine what those girls must have gone through in those silent, dark years. They would have difficulty in voicing complain against the man who was meant to be their father and protector, and the abuses must have gone on for years without others getting to know about it. They must have been forced to keep the secret of sexual abuse within their household. As the head of the household, the father had the social power to scare his daughters into submission at his whim and fancy.
The young girls have been through a nightmare with their innocence defiled, scarred for life and now they are out in the limelight asking for nothing but justice. Let us not forget that there may be countless other girls in similar situations, still hiding in the dark for fear of bringing out the truth.
The issue is already out in the open, with the media giving it good coverage but unless stern action is meted out to the culprits through the course of law, such deeds will somehow find a way of growing in numbers. The Lotha Eloe Hoho, women activists’ and other organizations are already delving into the case and hopefully, the Nagaland State Women Commission will be able to tackle this case as it falls within their purview. Instead of lamenting about the pathetic state of our society, we need to purge and cleanse out such social evils from our midst and leave behind something good for posterity.
Grace Kikon
Bethpalet, Ministers hill
Kohima
