SHILLONG, SEPT 26: Seventeen years old Sougaijam Bidyalakshmi Leima braved the fragile law and order situation in the state and reached Shillong on Wednesday after cycling 2700 kilometers to spread the “Stop violence against women” message. A resident of Manipur her journey could not have been more appropriately timed as Meghalaya has seen spurt of violence- though not against women- because of the demand for implementation of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) by ngos.
The ‘peace cycling expedition’ of this student started from Manipur and has traversed across many north eastern states to spread the message – “Stop violence against women”.
Despite challenges Leima arrived in Shillong after covering 2700 kilometers in the four north eastern states – Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
Leima told reporters during a media conference on Thursday, “This is a humble start and in a very little way I want to contribute through the campaign on the need to end such violence against women.” She said the increasing trend of rape cases and ill-treatment towards women and children have triggered her to undertake this mission. She said, “Even though it is a small initiative but I believe it will have an impact on creating awareness that crimes against women should be stop.”
Leima will start her journey to fight for women cause to Tripura, Mizoram tomorrow. She said, “Before I leave, I would be meeting students from the colleges in the city to make them aware on the need to protect women right.” She was of the opinion that her expedition is not to campaign against anybody but to awaken the society as a whole for a better future to all women and children.
Leima, like a matured adult, said,“The government also needs to take preventive measure as well as action against the perpetrators of such crime. She felt such crime is killing the social fabric of the society and everyone needs to come together and fight against to ensure the society is free and clean from such ills.
Leima also said her cycling tour is to impressed upon the government to initiate various programmes on gender sensitization and put such legislation in place to root out completely the crimes and violence against women.” She concluded by saying, “It is also to bring about an effective and healthy network among all the public and private organizations with the sole motive to put an end to this crime.” – By Our Reporter
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