Manipur violence: Police confirm Kuki women paraded naked, gangraped by mob
While no senior police officer commented on the viral video, mid-level police officials confirmed the incident and said that the incident is of May 4.
A video of two women, who were paraded naked by a mob, assaulted and gangraped two months ago in Manipur was widely circulated on social media groups on Wednesday. While no senior police officer commented on the video, mid-level police officials confirmed the incident and said that the incident is of May 4. Two family members of the women were also murdered by the mob that numbered around 800-1000, according to the FIR seen by HT.
A police officer aware of the case details. “The complaint was filed with us at Saikul police station in Kangpokpi district by the chief of that village. A zero FIR was filed when the complaint came to us last month. The incident had happened under the Nongpok Sekma police station of Thoubal so the case was transferred to them.”
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On Wednesday evening as the horrific assault video was widely circulated, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) issued a press release, in which they condemned the incident and requested the National Commission for Women and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes to take cognisance of the incident. The members of the ITLF said they were many such incidents that had happened in Manipur in the first few days of the violence. HT could not immediately authenticate if there were other similar cases.
According to a copy of the FIR seen by HT, the incident happened at the B Phainom village on May 4.
At around 3 pm on May 4, around 800-1,000 miscreants carrying weapons had entered the B Phainom village in Kangpokpi district. May 4 was the second day of the ethnic clashes between tribal and non-tribal groups that started in the valley the previous day. The clashes have left at least 150 dead and around 40000 displaced till date.
'The violent mob vandalised all the houses and burnt them to the ground after looting all the moveable properties and cash including furnitures, electronic items, utensils, clothes, grains, cattles, domestic animals etc. leaving all of us homeless,’ the complaint filed by the village head said.
The complaint said that five villagers(name withheld) from one family had fled to a forest and were rescued by a police team from Nongpok Sekmai Police team. The five along with police team were on their way to Nongpok Sekmai PS. However, they were blocked on the way by a mob and snatched from the custody of police team by the mob near Toubul (Sekmai khunou) about 2 km from Nongpok Sekmai PS.
The complaint said that one of the villagers, a 56-year-old man was killed on the spot while three women were disrobed and paraded naked.
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A 21-year-old woman, among the five, was also allegedly gangraped by the mob. A 19-year-old man(brother of the woman and son of the man who was murdered) too was murdered when he tried to stop the mob from sexually assaulting his sister.
‘The three women managed to escape from the spot with the help of some people from the area who were known to them,’ said the FIR.
The village head had filed the complaint on June 21. Police have mentioned in the FIR that ‘due to communal tension the case could not be reported in time.’
An activist who has been working on the case said that the surviving members along with other villagers abandoned their villages and shifted to a government camp in Churachandpur.
HT contacted Manipur police director of general Rajiv Singh for a comment but despite many phone calls and text message there was no response.
Since May 3, the northeastern state has been gripped by ethnic clashes – primarily between the tribal Kukis, which mostly reside in the hill districts, and majority Meiteis, the dominant community in Imphal Valley – in which 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.
Violence quickly engulfed the state where ethnic fault lines run deep, displacing tens of thousands of people who fled burning homes and neighbourhoods into jungles, often across state borders. Internet is still not back in the state while columns of Indian Army, Assam Rifles and different battalions of CRPF and BSF are posted in the state to bring normalcy back to the state.