State shuts down to vent rape outrage

SHILLONG, JAN 3: Meghalaya joined the rest of the country in observing bandh on Thursday to demand speedy trial of the Delhi rape accused and stringent law on crime against women.

Almost all business establishments in the state capital remained closed, but attendance at government offices was believed to be normal. The city’s two major commercial areas – Iewduh and Police Bazaar – observed a complete bandh. Shutters of commercial establishments were also down at GS Roads, Laban, Iewdat, Laban Last Stop, Mothpran, Mawprem, Jhalupara, Mawbah (Barapathar) and Polo area. Some shops, however, were open at Laitumkhrah and Fire Brigade. Most of the city roads also wore a deserted look in the day.

“Shops were closed till very late as the people were confused on whether or not to open (for the day),” said deputy commissioner of East Khasi Hills Sanjay Goyal. Attendance in government offices, he said, was normal and there was very little public transport service in the early hours.

The Civil Society Women’s Organisation (CSWO), an NGO, had extended its support to the bandh that was called throughout the country by NGOs. CSWO president A Kharshiing said rape was a threat looming large in the society and urged the people to unite and fight the menace. She also demanded stringent law to protect the rights of women. “Governments all over the country had better take the security of women and children seriously,” she said.

The bandh was called in the wake of the nationwide outrage at the brutal rape and murder of a medical student in Delhi on December 16. The incident sparked off protests throughout the country, forcing the Union government to form a three-member committee headed by Justice R. S. Verma to review the present statute so as to provide for speedier justice and enhanced punishment in cases of aggravated sexual assault.

The Delhi girl was raped by six persons, two of them juvenile, in a bus. She later died in a hospital in Singapore hospital. Delhi police on Thursday filed a charge-sheet before a fast-track court. The police have filed nine cases against the six accused, including rape and murder. (By Our Reporter)