A distressing video of two Manipur women being paraded naked has gone viral, drawing condemnation from the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum as evidence of heinous atrocities.
In the egregious video, two women are paraded naked and molested by a group that drags them to a field. The women were allegedly gang-raped later.
The incident took place on May 4, a day after clashes broke out between the valley-majority Meitei and the hill-majority Kuki tribe in Manipur over the Meiteis’ demand for Scheduled Tribes (ST) status. The state has seen several incidents of violence and clashes for weeks.
Over 120 have died in the ethnic violence and thousands have been internally displaced and are now living in relief camps.
The video went viral yesterday after it was widely shared on social media, drawing massive condemnation and demands for action.
The video shows several men, apparently Meiteis, walking alongside the two women as they are led into some fields. The video shows at least some of the men groping the women.
A zero FIR was filed by the Saikul police, in Kangpokpi district, on May 18. It was forwarded to the Nongpok Sekmai police station. While an FIR is usually restricted by jurisdiction, a zero FIR can be filed in any police station. After registering the Zero FIR, the police station transfers it to the one that has the jurisdiction – which is then supposed to convert it into a regular FIR.
The Zero FIR has charges of rape and murder against “unknown miscreants” numbering “800-1,000”. The complaint filed against the incident claims that these men are suspected to be “members of Meitei Youth Organisations, Meetei Leepun, Kangleipak Kanba Lup, Arambai Tenggol and World Meitei Council, Schedule Tribe Demand Committee”.
The mob is accused of burning down houses in the B Phainom village, and accosting a group of five people who were fleeing. There were two men and three women in the group.
According to the complaint, the group was “snatched away from the custody” of a police team from the Nongpok Sekmai police station near Toubul (Sekmai khunou) “about 2 km from Nongpok Sekmai PS and about 3 km from 33 AR Somrei Post”.
One of the men was killed immediately by the mob, which then forced all the women to strip. One woman, in her 20s, was gang-raped and the other two women escaped. When the brother of the woman who was being raped tried to stop the assault, he was also murdered.
The Manipur police said that it was making “all-out effort” to arrest the culprits who were involved in the incident. The police said that a case of abduction, gang-rape and murder was registered in relation to the incident.
