Nikhil Kumar. (File) Nagaland governor Nikhil Kumar Friday said gender equality was an imperative need of the hour and that the society should wake up to this realization. He was speaking at a state level seminar on “atrocities against women” at The Heritage, Kohima.
The governor said that crime against women should not be fought by women alone but by all sections of the society. He asserted that great responsibility lies on men to ascertain women that they are equal to men.
While stating that women in Nagaland play key role in the society, Nikhil Kumar also pointed out that constitutional rights of women are not fully enforced in daily life. In this regard, he said that not only the law enforcing agencies but all sections of the society should work on to do away with gender discrimination.
Additional chief secretary and commissioner, Banuo Z. Jamir, said that atrocity against women was not women’s issue alone but a social issue. She stated that men and women were made differently to compliment each other and not to compete, and therefore urged women and men to join efforts and move forward together rather than fight.
Dwelling on the present scenario of atrocities against women, Banuo said that teaching of Christianity should be grounded in each family to contain crime in society. She also said that to prevent further crime against women, it was necessary for victims of atrocity to come out in the open and talk about it. In this regard, Banuo also said that social networking, understanding and applying legal rights were crucial.
Delivering the keynote, chairperson of Nagaland State Commission for Women, Sano Vamuzo, said that the objective of the seminar was to bring together leaders, administrators, police, NGOs, media and other stakeholders to collaborate ad deliberate on various dimensions of the issue and act accordingly with deeper insight and understanding.
Maintaining that only women react and act upon cases of atrocity in Nagaland, Sano Vamuzo said that it should be the duty of all concerned to check atrocities against women. She also stated that in many parts, responses to women have not been encouraging. She therefore appealed to all leaders and citizens to come forward with ideas to make atrocities against women a thing of the past.
In the following sessions, Justice HK Sema, chairman of UP Human Rights Commission, spoke on constitutional rights of women, while Rosemary Dzüvichü expert member of NE NCW spoke on present scenario of atrocities against women; Mayanglima, AD&SJ Kohima on domestic violence Act/ITPA Act and Renchamo P. Kikon, DIG, Modernization and Planning on role of police in safeguarding women’s rights.
The seminar was attended by representatives from colleges, women hohos, government officials and civil societies. The programme was organized by Nagaland state Commission for Women and Department of Women Development.