With an increasing number of cases of Crime against Women in the state, the Shillong Law College’s Women Cell of the Internal Quality Assessment Committee (IQAC) on Tuesday organized a street play to raise awareness about violence against women and gender-neutral laws as part of their Diamond Jubilee celebration.
The play was held at Shillong’s Dhankheti point and featured college students performing various acts to educate the public on these important issues.
Speaking to mediapersons, Dr. Wanrishisha Dkhar, Convener of the Women’s Cell, and Dr. Mrinalini Kharshiing, Vice Principal of Shillong Law College, along with other faculty members, were present at the event.
Dr. Wanrishisha Dkhar said, “We are organising the street play today to create awareness on violence against women where we talk about cyber crimes, women have been abused, domestic violence.”
She further said on social media there have been so many crimes that have been inflicted upon women.
“Basically it is about awareness to the public at large,” she added.
Dr. Dkhar further said, “Every now and then we go and give legal awareness specially to the rural areas, though in urban areas there are few who are not aware of their legal rights of women.”
“In rural areas women are not aware of their legal rights and where to file complaints and there are misconceptions about where to approach,” She added.
Displaying placards like ‘Stalking is not Romantic,’ ‘Report to get help’, ‘Sexual Harassment in Work place,’ the street play also highlighted the key concern to bring awareness on violence against women.
Legal awareness was also part of the play.
It may be mentioned that in 2022 alone the state recorded a staggering 690 cases of crimes against women, while 496 cases were against children. In 2018 there were 287 cases of crime against women which increased to 293 in 2019. In 2020,the number of cases more than doubled to 606, while the number further ascended to 685 in 2021.