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CBI to probe assault on 3 women in Manipur
The CBI has taken over the investigation into a sexual violence incident in Manipur, where three women were stripped and paraded naked, and one was raped.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the probe into the May 4 sexual violence incident in Manipur, where three women were stripped and paraded naked, and one was raped, people familiar with the development said on Saturday.
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In an affidavit submitted in the Supreme Court on July 27, the Centre said that the case has been transferred to the CBI, and that the trial should be shifted outside the state and completed within six months of filing the charge sheet. The federal agency’s special investigation team (SIT) is already probing six other cases related to violence and loot of weapons from the armories in the ethnic violence-hit state since June 10.
The CBI took over the case documents from the Manipur Police late on Friday and re-registered the first information report (FIR) against “unidentified persons” under sections related to abduction, gang-rape and murder, officials familiar with the matter said.
According to procedure, CBI usually re-registers cases taken up based on references from the Centre and state governments and, if any new charges are to be added, they are included while filing a charge sheet.
“We will soon take the custody of accused persons arrested by Manipur police and interrogate them, besides recording the statements of the victims, their families, and witnesses,” said an officer, who didn’t want to be named.
The video of a mob parading and assaulting three women after stripping them two months ago in Manipur surfaced on July 19, almost three months after the incident, fanning fresh tension in the state and a nationwide outcry.
According to the first information report (FIR) filed in the case, one of the three women of a family was gang raped while a mob of 800-1,000 men killed her brother and father on May 4 in Thoubal district of Manipur.
The family of five had fled to a forest to escape the armed mob that entered their village and vandalised houses. Police later rescued the family. The mob surrounded the family and took them from police custody, according to the FIR. They first killed a 56-year-old man on the spot, and then assaulted the three women, the FIR added.
Amid uproar, the Centre on Thursday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the case has been transferred to CBI. “The central government considers the offences like the present one to be too heinous which deserve to be taken not only with the seriousness it deserves but justice should be seen to be done so that it has a deterrent effect throughout the nation with respect to crimes against women,” the affidavit filed by Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla said.
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The Manipur police have, so far, arrested seven people in the sexual assault case, including some of those seen in the viral video, while the hunt is on for others, said a senior police officer, who didn’t wish to be named.
Since May 3, Manipur has been gripped by ethnic clashes — primarily between the Kukis, who mostly reside in the hill districts, and Meiteis, the dominant community in Imphal Valley.
At least 150 people have died and over 50,000 have been displaced. Clashes first broke out on May 3 in Churachandpur town after Kuki groups called for protests against a proposed tweak to the state’s reservation matrix, granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community.
Since May 3, the state has recorded 5,101 cases of arson and registered 6,065 first information reports (FIRs) related to various incidents of violence. At least 252 people have been arrested and around 12,740 preventive arrests have been made.
