How unsafe ‘the women’ are in New Delhi

NEW DELHI – Ever since a Mizo woman was pulled into a vehicle near her house at Moti Bagh and gang raped by four men on November 23, people from the Northeast have been alleging that they are being discriminated against. While every networking site has people denouncing the act, many blogs and web portals have also come out strongly against the lack of safety measures for women from Northeast states in Delhi.

“When the rapists saw the woman alighting from the office cab, they did not check to see if she was Mizo or Manipuri or Arunachali. She was simply Northeastern, and therefore an easy target,” says Madhu Chandra, the spokesperson of NE Helpline, highlighting how people from the seven Northeastern states are categorised under one definition in Delhi.

Incidents of Northeastern women being eve-teased are common, and it has often been alleged that the police do not bother to look into their complaints. Jasmine Rupini from Tripura, who has been living in the city for the last five years, says, “We are here to study and work, not harm anybody. Yet, we are the ones who are targeted.”
While the ‘Stop discriminating against people from the North-East regions’ community on Facebook has over 162 people demanding stringent action against the guilty, news portal ‘Mizoram Express’ has urged politicians to make Delhi a safer place for women. The Mizoram Student Union is also planning a demonstration on Monday to demand justice for the girl.
Though security has been increased in Nanakpura, where the incident occurred, residents do not expect it to remain for long. “Whenevesomething terrible happens, they post policemen at every corner to make us believe that they are doing their job well. But as time passes, the administration forgets about the crime,” says ST Jha, a resident of Nanakpura.
“Nothing has changed since 2005. I feel as vulnerable as I felt then,” says Asha, a Manipuri girl. However, 21-year-old Jasmin, a student of Motilal Nehru College, does not believe that Northeastern girls are specifically targeted. “That’s not correct,” she says, “I feel that all the girls are unsafe in the city. Whenever I go out at night, I take male friends along.”