Tripura Women Victims of Moral Police, Crime Against Women Rises

GUWAHATI: In an horrifying incident, that took place late last week in Ujan Chandrapur Village of Bilonia district of South Tripura, a 60-year-old widow Anjali Bhil was physically assaulted by a six member group of a family, who thrashed her, tore off her clothes and shaved her head.

Why? Because according to the mob she had an “illicit” affair with a married man!

The police arrested four women and three men for the assault. But all were released on bail.

The widow had been threatened several times by the villagers, and was branded “characterless” by the family that led the attack. She was beaten till she lost consciousness.

Local sources said that like any other day Anjali Bhil went to collect her MGREGA wages. The brawl started when, Hirubala Bhil along with other accused came to the spot and abused her verbally by accusing for having an affair with her husband.

The attack took place right in front of the Panchayat office, where everyone looked on and not a single person came forward to help the victim. She dragged herself to the hospital when she regained consciousness.

In June this year, another woman was stripped, her head shaved and beaten badly in South Tripura. She was tied to an electric shaft. She also was blamed for having an affair with a married man, and three women were part of the group that attacked her so mercilessly.

The 2015 National Crime Report Bureau (NCRB) reports of Tripura confirms that the state still records serious crimes against women.The rate of Crime Against Women cases in Tripura is 88% while the national normal is 56.3%. Moral policing of the kind listed above seems to be on the rise, with women joining the men in attacking other women.