Gang-raped, assaulted, killed: How women have become easy targets in Manipur

After a horrific video of two Kuki women being paraded naked by a mob in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district surfaced online last week, triggering widespread outrage, more incidents of sexual assault and violence against women have come to light since then. As per an NDTV report, a woman was injured after a gunfight broke out between suspected militants and security forces in the Churachandpur district late Saturday (22 July). The shootout continued till Monday morning, the report added. Meanwhile, the United States on Sunday expressed sympathies with the two survivors of the 4 May sexual assault case that has enraged India, calling the incident “brutal” and “terrible”, reported Reuters. Manipur is witnessing ethnic clashes between the tribal Kuki people and the majority Meitei community since 3 May. At least 125 people have been killed and thousands displaced since the violence erupted. Let’s take a look at how women have been increasingly targeted in this violence. Violence against women The same day the harrowing assault of two Kuki women happened in the Kangpokpi district, another incident took place at a nursing institute in Imphal’s Porompat. On 4 May, two Kuki women, aged 20 and 19, were beaten up by a mob and “left to die” by the roadside outside the girls’ hostel of their nursing institute, reported Scroll.in. “The mob kept banging the door of the room we were hiding in, shouting that your men have raped our women, now we will do the same to you,” the 19-year-old first-year student told BBC. She said they were later found by the police who took them to the hospital. As per Scroll.in, the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the 20-year-old second-year nursing student at Churachandpur police station states: “Some radical mobs belonging to the Meitei community armed with sophisticated weapons…chanting anti-tribal slogans…barged into my hostel room and dragged me onto the road.”

“I was harassed, abused, tortured and beaten,” she added.

According to The Hindu report, a photo of a 45-year-old woman, who was stripped and charred to death on 6 May in Imphal East, has now emerged online. Thianna Vaiphei Sauntak, a pastor at Pheitaiching village, told the newspaper that he had found the semi-burnt body of the 45-year-old on 7 May. He claimed armed men wearing black shirts, accompanied by Manipur Police commandos, had entered the village on 6 May. “While our houses were torched, most villagers were able to flee the scene. The woman, who used to live alone, could not run away and was caught by the mob. She was killed, her body was mutilated,” he told The Hindu. The pastor also said he had complained to the police and a zero FIR was registered in Kangpokpi. The case was later transferred to Imphal East, the report added. [caption id=“attachment_12909082” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Activists of different social and human rights groups in Kolkata protest against mob assaults on two women who were stripped and paraded in Manipur on 4 May. AP[/caption] Another zero FIR was filed in Kangpokpi district’s Saikul police station on 16 May for the abduction, rape and murder of two Kuki-Zomi women, aged 21 and 24, who worked at a car wash in Imphal, reported ThePrint. The complaint filed by the mother of the younger woman says the two women were “brutally murdered” in their rented accommodation near Konung Mamang on 5 May “after being raped and gruesome(ly) tortured by some unknown persons”, believed to be 100 to 200 in numbers, according to Indian Express. A male co-worker of the two victims told the Times of India that the women in the mob had “encouraged” the men to take the tribal women inside a room and “sexually assault” them. According to Saikul police officials, Porompat police station in the Imphal East district, under whose jurisdiction the case fell, were informed about the incident on 16 May, reported ThePrint. Notably, no arrests have been made so far, the report added. ALSO READ: Manipur women horror: How rape and sexual violence are used as a weapon in conflict On 15 May, a Kuki resident of Imphal’s New Checkon colony was kidnapped from outside an ATM by men wearing black t-shirts who came in two cars – a white Bolero and a purple Swift, as per the Scroll.in report. She was then taken to Wangkhei Ayangpali, a Meitei locality, in one of the cars as her captors thrashed her during the ride, the report added. The zero-FIR in the case filed by the 18-year-old on 21 July says, “Then they called Meira Paibis (torchbearers, also known as the mothers of Manipur) and several local men who took turns in slapping and punching me. Then I heard one of the ladies saying that we must call ‘Arambai Tengol’. Then four arrived in black shirts with some logos on their back and all of them were carrying guns,” reported The Hindu. Arambai Tenggol is an armed Meitei group, accused of leading several attacks against the Kukis since 3 May, as per Scroll.in. According to the survivor, the four men, two in their mid-30s and the other who were likely in their 50s, then pushed her into another car and drove away. She was taken to a hill where the men told her that if she wanted to live, she “would have to do ‘as they said’”, reported Scroll.in. “After driving around for a while, they stopped the car again in hilly top area. They dragged me out of the car and starting physically assaulting me by kicking, slapping, punching etc. One of the blows on my face with the butt of the gun was so hard that I blacked out for a while. My eyes opened when I felt drizzle of rain on my face,” The Hindu cited the FIR as saying. The 18-year-old alleged that three of the four men then took turns to rape her. “By this time my ears, face and head were bleeding really bad to the extent that my clothes and face were drenched in blood. Then there was this argument between the three men who raped me and the one who did not, that I should be killed… They said that if we let you go then you will go to the police to file FIR but be rest assured if you go to the police, we will find you and kill you. While they were arguing on whether to let me go or kill me; one of them was trying to turn the car around and by accident it hit me and I fell off the creek from that hilltop,” she alleged in the FIR. After rolling off the hill, she sought help from a passing autorickshaw driver who ferried her to Bishnupur Police Station. Later, after she learnt the police officials who would take her home were from the Meitei community, she urged the auto driver to drop her off instead as she did not “trust the police”. She was admitted to a hospital in Kangpokpi district, which referred her to another hospital in the neighbouring Nagaland state, reported Scroll.in. The hospital in Kohima confirmed an “alleged case of assault and rape”, the Scroll report added. ALSO READ: After Manipur video horror, why Meiteis fleeing Mizoram ‘Only one incident of rape’ Even though several sexual assault cases that took place in the last two months in Manipur are now being reported, chief minister N Biren Singh claimed recently that “only one rape” incident was found among the numerous complaints. “Only one incident of rape has been found among the 6,068 FIRs registered across the state with complaints of murder, arson and rioting,” he told India Today NE in an exclusive interview. [caption id=“attachment_12909092” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The video of two women being assaulted in Manipur has enraged India. AP[/caption] Commenting on the car wash case, Singh in the interview claimed that the autopsy report “ruled out rape or any kind of sexual assault”. Vaipei People’s Council, Young Vaipei Association, Zomi Students Federation, and Kuki Students Federation alleged on 23 July that seven Kuki women have been raped since the 3 May ethnic violence, as per India Today NE. Did the internet shutdown fan the flames? Reports claim that the viral 4 May incident was a result of fake news of violence against Meitei women that triggered violence on Kuki tribal women. Speaking to The Week magazine, Noornika Khuraijam, a doctor at a private medical college in Imphal, recalled how rumours started spreading on 3 May. “It was all fake news. There were rumours all over that 41 women had been raped and killed in Churachandpur. We found out that it was not true but the news spread like wildfire,’’ she said. “Another time, there were rumours of more than a dozen dead bodies being recovered. It was a lie but there was no one to counter it officially,’’ the doctor added. Noornika believed that the rumours could have been quashed through a social media campaign by the government if the internet had not been banned. The Manipur government imposed a shutdown on mobile internet services across the state on 3 May following the ethnic clashes. A senior government official cautioned against internet shutdowns. “There is no one size fits all. The Manipur experience should be a lesson for all state governments to think twice before shutting down the internet to maintain peace. Instead, a robust mechanism to use cyberspace to track the inimical elements and competently counter all the fake news immediately should be put in place,’’ the official was quoted as saying by The Week. With inputs from agencies