Crime
Manipur violence: Two women paraded naked, one allegedly gang-raped
A video of two Kuki tribal women being paraded naked in Manipur surfaced online leading to massive outrage on social media.
The incident occurred in B Phainom village in Kangpokpi district on May 4. One of the women was gang-raped, the first information report (FIR) filed in connection with the incident says, The Wire reported.
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.
The two women belonging to the Kuki-Zo tribe in Manipur were paraded naked, molested and one of them was allegedly gang-raped by members belonging to the Meitei group, a report by Scroll.in said.
The incident which was strongly condemned by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, allegedly occurred in Kangpokpi district after the B Phainom village was burned down.
According to the ITLF, the mob murdered two men- one middle-aged and one teenager, before turning against the two women.
A press release by the ITLF said that the incident occurred on May 4 in Kangpokpi district, showing men constantly molesting the helpless women, who were crying and pleading with their captors.
“The horrifying ordeal suffered by these innocent women is amplified by the perpetrators’ decision to share the video, which shows the identity of the victims, on social media,” an ITLF press release said.
The disturbing video garnered thousands of views and drew widespread condemnation.
The video was doing the rounds on the eve of a planned protest march announced by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) on Thursday to highlight their plight.
According to the Scroll.in report, a police complaint filed by the relatives of the women states that one of the women was subsequently gang-raped. Based on the complaint, the police said a zero FIR has been registered in the Saikul police station of Kangpokpi district on May 18.
While FIRs are made in the police station whose jurisdiction the alleged crime occurred, a zero FIR allows any police station to receive and register a complaint before forwarding it to the appropriate station.
The report quoted an official at the Saikul police station who said that charges of rape and murder, among others, have been pressed against “unknown miscreants” numbering “800-1,000”.