In what has become another horrific revelation from the ongoing unrest and violence in Manipur, the state police have confirmed that two women were paraded naked and gangraped by a mob. The dreadful incident had happened on May 4, 2023, the day after the state was clouded with violence, and it has now come to light, only to display the gravity of the violence to the rest of the nation and to spark a fury against the government for its incessant inaction. 

The First Information Report (FIR) has revealed the atrocious event happened to women and as the incident has drawn a sharp attention from across the country after two months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had remained a mute spectator over the Manipur violence for two months, had finally broken his silence after realizing that the growing anarchy in Manipur has become an ordeal to his administration at a high time when the BJP is preparing for the Lok Sabha polls. 

While addressing the reporters in New Delhi, Modi spoke about the Manipur issue for the first time in public in two months. He said, "I assure the nation, no guilty will be spared. Law will take its course with all its might. What happened with the daughters of Manipur can never be forgiven." As per the FIR, around 800 to 1000 people had carried weapons like AK rifles and entered B Phainom village in Kangpoki district on May 4. It was a day after the clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki communities, the two predominant ethnic groups in Manipur. 

After entering the village that has a large population of Kuki community, the mob had begun to vandalize, loot, and burn the village. The mob had then captured five residents of the village and they were - two men and three women. They were fleeing the village after the anarchy but eventually got into the hands of the mob. Of those five people, there was a man aged 56, his 19-year-old son, and 21-year-old daughter. The other two women were aged 42 and 52. 

The FIR has further revealed that immediately after capturing them, the mob had killed 56-year-old man and all the three women were forced to remove their clothes. The mob had gangraped 21-year-old woman and when her 19-year-old brother fought with the mob to resist sexual violence against his sister, he was eventually killed. The mob had then tortured two other women and they were paraded naked on a street while a mob of men was walking with them.  

A video of two women being paraded naked was surfaced and it has shaken the soul of the nation and the lack of strong action from the government has displayed a prevailing apathy. As per the appalling visuals, the mob was walking with two women and mobsters went on to sexually harass them. Speaking to the Scroll, one of the women, who survived, said that they tried to flee the village after the Meitei mobs entered and started attacking the village. 

However, the mob had apprehended them and unleashed a horror of making them walk naked. The survived woman further said, "When we resisted, they told me, 'if you don't take off your clothes, we will kill you". She said that she was assaulted physically and that she was aware that the 21-year-old woman was gangraped. She also stated that the men were in an inebriated condition. A fortnight after the incident, a zero FIR was lodged at the Saikul police station on May 18. This zero FIR can be filed at any station regardless of the particular jurisdiction where the crime had taken place.

As per the FIR, charges of rape and murder were filed against 800 to 1000 unknown miscreants and it was forwarded to the Nangpok police station. As the video has sparked a public outrage from across the country, several opposition leaders and activists are slamming the state government and pressed that the law and order in Manipur has been collapsed.  

On the front of what triggered this heinous crime, it was an image of what was claimed to be a Meitei woman. In the image, the woman was seen wrapped in a plastic bag and as it went viral, it was claimed that she was a Meitei woman and that she was raped and killed by Kuki men in Churachandpur on May 3 when the violence between two communities began. Though it was later found that it was a fake news as the victim wasn't a Meitei woman and that it was the dead body of a Delhi girl, the effect of the image went on to spark an adverse impact in Manipur. 

It was evident from the statement from the survived woman who revealed that when the mob attacked her, they vowed, "We will do to you what your men did to our women." The men further said, "This is the revenge for the Churachandpur case." On Wednesday - July 19, the Manipur police said that it is taking efforts to arrest the culprits. In a statement, the police said that the incident happened on May 4 2023 and a case of abduction, gangrape, and murder was registered at Nongpok Segpei police station in Thoubal district. The police had asserted that the situation in the state during the last 24 hours is peaceful but tense in some places with sporadic incidents of firing and gathering of crowd at different places. 

"A total of 126 checkpoints have been installed in different districts of Manipur (both in the hill and the valley) and about 452 persons were detained in connection with violations", the police added. After the video stirred outrage, the Manipur police seemed to have rolled their sleeves to arrest the culprits with Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh announcing that the main culprit behind the crime has been arrested. On Thursday - July 20, Biren Singh said, "We saw the video and I felt so bad, it's a crime against humanity. I immediately ordered the police to arrest the culprits and the state govt will try to ensure capital punishment for the accused. Every human being should condemn it. Last night at around 1.30 am, we arrested the main culprit." 

Last night at around 1.30 am, we arrested the main culprit, says Manipur CM N Biren Singh

— ANI (@ANI) July 20, 2023