North Eastern Woman Attacked In Uber: Who Is ‘India’s Daughter’?

In a shocking incident, a female journalist was attacked by a female co- passenger pooling with her in Uber. The co–passenger who was miffed at being dropped last, used racial slurs against the journalist who is North East Indian.

The journalist revealed that the co-passenger called her ‘chinky’ and even physically attacked her. Though one of the first incidents of this kind to be reported, all shared cab services need to create some safety mechanism so that passengers are not in danger from each other, or can call for help if they feel unsafe.

More importantly, this incident has once again revealed how North Eastern members of our country, especially women, are mistreated across the country. There is a huge amount of discrimination practiced by us against people who are from our own country – often only because they look and sound different from what is considered the norm. Surveys done previously reveal that even large cities such as Delhi and Bangalore are extremely unsafe for them.

Over the years, there have been many sexual harassment cases against women from the North East; however, the police attitude towards them has been indifferent at best. The general thinking is that women from this part of the country are ‘easy’. They look foreign and hence must have ‘loose morals’, a theory which is totally senseless.

In 2017, a North Eastern woman was brutally raped in Delhi. The police reaction was to tell the people from this region to stop partying and ‘behave themselves’. This callous and cruel treatment given to them is unfair and needs to stop.

The North Eastern region of our country has a diverse and rich heritage. This region has given us many sports stars, including legends like Mary Kom. Just like other youngsters from different parts of the country, they too move out to bigger cities to look for better opportunities and lifestyle. They should definitely not be punished for their origins.

Such deep seated prejudice needs to be removed. We have to accept that these women are a part of our country. Their culture, food habits, dressing sense maybe different from what some of us are familiar with, but does that not apply to all the other states as well? We cannot brand them or judge them because of where they come from. After all, these woman are daughters of India too and deserve the same safety and justice that all of us want and deserve.

Image via Pexels

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