INDIA: NGO to Place Delhi 'Murder' Case Before UN Rapporteur

Imphal-based NGO Women Action for Development (WAD) has taken serious note of the growing crime against women in New Delhi, the latest being the alleged murder of a Manipuri woman, Reingamphy Awungshi. The NGO will place the issue before UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women (UNSRVAW) Rashida Manjoo and the NHRC for redressal.

The body of 21-year-old Awungshi of Ukhrul district's Chuithui village was found in her rented room in the national Capital on Wednesday last with some external injury marks.

The northeastern people, especially students, residing in Delhi strongly protested against police's inaction to deal with the murder and criticized their attempt to turn it into a suicide case.

On Saturday, Delhi minister of health Kiran Walia told the protesters that she had asked the Delhi Police commissioner to transfer the case to the crime branch. Walia added that she had ordered that the autopsy on Awungshi's body be conducted again by different doctors in another hospital.

"This is not the first time that women, particularly from the northeast, have suffered various forms of violence in the national Capital. We have taken the matter very seriously," said WAD secretary Sobita Mangsatabam.

"We will put the matter before UNSRVAW Rashida Manjoo so that the Centre can be asked to chalk out a specific mechanism to check the menace," Sobita said.

Stating that an NHRC team will be visiting Manipur shortly, she said the same issue will also be highlighted in front of the team.

As a large number of students and professionals from the northeast are residing across the national capital, Sobita appealed to parents and guardians of these students and professionals to get detailed information about the location where their wards are supposed to stay.

"The parents should study the location first before sending their children and if it is not secure enough, they should find safe areas," Sobita said, while condemning the suspected murder of the Ukhrul girl.

She also urged the Centre and the state government to book the perpetrators according to the law of the land. Various student bodies of the state said the government should act immediately to punish the guilty.

In April this year, Rashida came down to Imphal and attended a meeting in which over 200 delegates and family members of women victims of violence from all over the northeast and West Bengal gave their testimonies.