Police arrested another accused in connection with a video that surfaced on Wednesday showing two women being paraded naked and sexually assaulted by a mob in strife-torn Manipur. The accused has been identified as Yumlembam Nungsithoi Metei (19), police said. So far, police have arrested five accused.
A video showing two women being paraded naked and molested in Manipur’s Kangpokpi surfaced on Wednesday and has sparked massive outrage. The incident happened on May 4 in Kangpokpi district, a day after violence broke out in the northeastern state.
The horrifying video shows a mob parading two women belonging to the Kuki-Zo community around, and an FIR filed in the matter states that one woman was brutally gangraped. When her brother, a 19-year-old, attempted to intervene, he was killed.
The first arrest was made on Thursday morning when police caught a 32-year-old man, identified as Huirem Heradas Singh. In the viral video, the man, dressed in a green T-shirt, was seen dragging one of the women. Later, his house was set on fire by a group of women.
All the accused have been sent to police custody for 11 days for further investigation.
The Centre has issued an order to Twitter and other social media platforms, instructing them not to share the video of two women. The government, in its instructions, held that it was imperative to adhere to Indian laws and that the matter was under investigation.
It was later reported that it was fake news that led to the terrifying incident, and triggered the mob to assault the two women. According to police sources, the news of a rape in Delhi was spread on social media like that of rape in Manipur.
Fake news was peddled that a woman of a particular community in Manipur was raped. A picture of a woman wrapped in a plastic sheet was circulated that claimed to be of a Manipur woman. However, it was later found out that the said rape took place in Delhi.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said people of the state consider “women as their mother” but the miscreants who disrobed the two tribal women have “tarnished the state’s reputation.”
The chief minister said protests were launched across the state to condemn the incident.
“People of Manipur consider women their mother, but some miscreants have done this and tarnished our reputation. We have launched protests to condemn the incident across the state, both in valley areas and the hills,” the chief minister said.
The husband of one of the women seen in the video is a former Army man, who had served the force as a subedar in the Assam Regiment and even fought in the Kargil War. The war veteran rued that though he protected the country, he could not save his wife from being humiliated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the Manipur incident has shamed 140 crore Indians and “can never be forgiven”. The Prime Minister, in his first remarks on Manipur since ethnic violence broke out in the state over two months ago, assured that the “law will act with its full might” and the guilty won’t be spared.
