Slum area girls imparted self-defence training

BY OUR STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, Aug 1: Over 40 girls of Hafizgar-2 slum located at Bamunimaidam area in the city were taught self defense techniques in view of the rising incidents of crimes against woman.
The programme was organized on Monday by Sakhi- One Stop Centre for Women; a city based organized working for women rights, in collaboration with UTSAH, a child rights body.
The girls were taught to be self defensive with the help of their hands by martial artiste NC Rao.
 “Incidences of crime against women have been increasing day by day in our state as well as in the country. In most of the cases women fall prey to rape, assault and molestation when they are alone. They often have to be dependent upon male partners for rescue if situation turns grim and extreme. Legislations turn lackadaisical when it handles rape cases. Culprits resort to rape again and again defying the laws of the land. Police even turn out to the scenes quite late. So, it is very important for women in the society to be self defensive,” said Neelakshi Sarma, SAKHI centre administrator. 
“With the help of self defense training a women can at least tackle the situation on spot until help arrives. It is the time to think about some preventive measures for women to defend themselves from such untoward incidences. The utmost importance of defense techniques is widely felt than ever,” she said.
“Our women are living in a state where gender based violence are on rise and at any point of time they have to remain prepared to confront such untoward situation in their life. We are sure, if women are trained on self defense techniques, numbers of such crimes will go down significantly in our society,” Sarma added.
She said that Assam is reported to topping the list among other NE States.  Crime against women is on rise in Assam and a total of 15,206 rape cases were registered in different police stations in Assam from 2005 to 2014.  However, most of the cases go unreported due to the social stigma associated with it, she added. Sarma said that SAKHI will organize series of such trainings for girls in schools and colleges collaborating with concerned departments in the State.