Tirath plans steps to help northeastern women in Delhi

The government would soon take measures to check the crimes against northeastern women, who are increasingly becoming targets of harassment and assault in the capital, Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said on Wednesday.

The government would soon take measures to check the crimes against northeastern women, who are increasingly becoming targets of harassment and assault in the capital, Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said on Wednesday.

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Tirath said she was shocked at the gruesome manner in which a Naga girl, settled in Manipur, was murdered by a PhD scholar of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi Saturday.

"The ministry is going to talk to and consult the ministry for northeastern affairs on this matter," Tirath told reporters in New Delhi after chairing the state ministers’ meet to review women and child-related programmes.

She said her ministry would also consult the Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DONER) to come up with “something concrete to help the northeastern youngsters keeping in mind the rising number of crimes committed against them”.

“I have been reading for the past two days about the incident that took place. We plan to carry out a sensitisation campaign to change the mindset of the people,” she added.

The PhD scholar of IIT, Pushpum Sinha, is said to be suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder and had strangulated his 19-year-old neighbour Ramchanphy Hongray in her Munirka home in south Delhi. He then burnt the girl's face to mislead the police.

Sinha killed the girl as she had spurned his advances and he thought she would spill the beans, the police had said.

Said P Bolina, joint secretary in the WCD ministry: “We do not want to simply take a suo moto cognizance of the offence, although we have seen the newspaper reports of the murder."

“We want to come out with a concrete plan. We will consult northeastern students who are staying in Delhi for their feedback while formulating the plan,” she told reporters.

Although, it is not clear whether the ministry will set up a separate cell or a helpline to assist the northeastern women, Bolina said a decision would be taken after talking to the DONER and northeastern students.