Nagaland’s Congress lights candle for rape victims

[caption id="attachment_176260" align="alignnone" width="550"] A Naga woman holds a candle during a memorial in Dimapur on Friday.[/caption] Dimapur, April 13 (EMN): The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) organised a ‘candlelight vigil’ at the office of its Dimapur unit on Friday evening “on the issue of violence against women across the country that continues unabated under the patronage of BJP government.” An NPCC press release stated that its general secretary, GK Zhimomi informed the gathering about the cases of violence against women “that have rocked the nation and highlighted the recent Unnao and Kathua rape cases where instead of delivering justice to the victims, the accused were shielded while the victims and their families have borne the brunt of an indifferent government machinery”. During the event, the NPCC President K Therie said that crimes against “our daughters, sisters and mothers have increased after the BJP has come to power.” He was reported as saying that the RSS cadres ‘do not empathise with women and are largely insensitive to their problems’. “Therie said the nation’s daughters, sisters and mothers have been objectified under BJP’s rule and criminals responsible for the atrocities on women are shielded while the victims are further victimised,” it stated. Therie expressed concern for the safety of Naga and NE women studying and living in different parts of the country and demanded the state government assure their safety and security, it stated. Therie urged the state government and civil society to raise their voices against the crimes committed on women across the nation. The event concluded with a mass prayer for victims and for the safety of women across the nation, it informed.