Northeast delegation meets Dikshit over women’s safety

NEW DELHI - A seven-member delegation of activists and lawyers from the northeast along with members of different NGOs Friday met Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to discuss the issue of safety of northeastern women in the capital in the wake of the gangrape of a BPO employee from Mizoram.

Dikshit has called for another meeting with the delegation and the Delhi Police Saturday. The meeting comes following the gangrape last week in south Delhi.

While Delhi Police arrested two of the five accused Thursday, the northeast community and civil society members said this was not the end of the problem.

Madhu Chandra, spokesperson of the Northeast Support Centre and Helpline, who accompanied the delegation to meet Dikshit, said: “That the Delhi Police arrested two of the accused is good news. However the problem doesn’t get solved there because it’s not just the rape case, but the bigger issue of safety of northeastern women in Delhi.”

“It is for this reason that we went to meet the chief minister. She said that since the issue of security involves the police, so it would be better that they too are made a party to the meeting. We will have another meeting with her and officials of the Delhi Police tomorrow (Saturday),” Chandra told IANS.

Talking about their meeting Friday, Chandra said: “Last year the chief minister had promised a northeast cell and a helpline to step up safety measures for the community here. However, nothing happened. We reminded her about that today and she said that she will look into it”.

“Also, we said that the victim of the gangrape case must be compensated under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act since she belongs to the scheduled tribe. She agreed and said that it will be taken care of,” he added.

Members of the NGOs Nirantar, Jagori, Saheli and the Northeast Network were a part of the delegation.

The 30-year-old BPO staffer from Mizoram was Nov 23 abducted by five men and gangraped in a moving goods carrier.

She was abducted soon after being dropped along with another girl, 100 metres from her home, by her office vehicle in the Dhaula Kuan area in south Delhi late at night.

The men then drove all the way to Mongolpuri in north Delhi and dumped her there after raping her.