Imagine the scale of horror that the women in Manipur had faced which pushed Prime Minister Modi, who remained a mute spectator for over two months, to finally break his silence and to speak about the silence. The chilling crime where the women were paraded naked by a mob of hundreds of men had immensely shaken the soul of our nation and become yet another standing example for the ongoing scourge in the state and the apathetic governments. 

As the video that showed two women paraded naked had turned the nation's eyes on Manipur and triggered anger, one of the victims had recalled the horror that she went through in the hands of monstrous men. These men belong to the Meitei community while the affected women were Kuki tribes and the violence between these two groups that broke out on May 3 had orchestrated anarchies, lootings, torture, killings, displacements, and now it appears to be a violence backed by religious polarization. 

On May 4, armed with guns, rifles, and fake news that the Kuki men had raped and killed a Meitei woman, a mob of Meitei men entered the village of B Phainom in Kangpokpi district. They vandalized the village, attacked the houses, and eventually captured five people - two men and three women. Of these five, there were 54-year-old man, his 21-year-old daughter, 19-year-old son, and two other women. While the mob had killed both father and son at the spot, they gangraped 21-year-old teenager.

Then the mob forced two women to remove their clothes or get killed. The women removed their clothes and they were paraded naked in the streets while the mob was walking with them. The ruthless mobsters went on to touch their private parts in public and as the video surfaced from the state on social media on Wednesday, it had heavily startled the people across the country. It was after the video that the police had admitted such issue had happened and that a case was filed on May 18. However, until Wednesday, no arrests were made. 

On Thursday, Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh has said that the main culprit has been arrested and the police had announced that four accused had been arrested so far. As the video had escalated tensions in the region, one of the victims has recalled about the horror that haunts her. The affected woman is at her 40s and she is currently in a relief camp at Churachandpur. She told The Print that the incident happened on May 4 and though she managed to send her four children to a nearby Naga settlement, she and her husband were among the last to leave their village after it was attacked by the mob. 

The woman said that after fleeing their village, she was among a few people who found a hideout in a forest, but only to get caught by the mobsters. The mob then divided the Kuki villagers into two groups and when the Kuki villagers had managed to get into a police jeep nearby, the police had eventually handed the villagers to the mob. The woman recalled, "Two policemen and a driver were in the jeep. But they didn't help us. Instead, they abandoned the jeep, giving a free hand to the mob."

After apprehended by the mob, the woman was then forced to remove her clothes by the mob. She was sexually assaulted by the mob and she begged them to leave her. "I kept begging them to leave me. I told them I am a mother. But the men showed no mercy", she added. Hours after the video surfaced, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the video and Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud said that such an incident is unacceptable. The apex court has asked the Manipur government to inform about the measures taken to bring the perpetrators into law. According to the state police, the acute violence in Manipur had killed over 150 people and displaced over 50,000 people. 

How fake news became a part of blame? 

As the chilling crime has brought the entire nation in one voice, the spread of fake news has become one of the reasons behind the incident. 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.

On May 4, a mob of Meitei men, stormed the village of B Phainom and made two Kuki women to walk naked besides gangraping a teenage woman. It was evident from the statement from a 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."

However, it was later found that it was fake news, but it had an adverse impact on the Kuki women. The woman in that image was not a Meitei woman and it was identified as Aayushi Chaudhry from Delhi and she was killed by her own parents in 2022.