Zero Follow-Up: Did NCW fail to act on the brutal Manipur video?

National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma is on a hot seat as she attempts to give an explanation on why the normally rush-like organisation took so long to respond to the reports of sex crimes in Manipur amid the ethnic unrest. This includes a 12 June report that shared details of the stripping-parading-gang rape incident that came to light after a video took over the internet earlier this week. The questions are raised after a tribal group of Manipuris stated that they wrote to NCW on 12 June reporting the horrible crimes, however, received no response. Notably, the North American Manipur Tribal Association (NAMTA) and Kuki Academics, headquartered in India and the USA, wrote to the commission 37 days before the two Kuki women’s video rocked the nation.

Also read: Centre asks social media platforms to take down Manipur video under Section 69 (A) of IT Act, 2000. What is it? NCW didn’t follow-up In the letter sent by email to northeastcell-ncw@nic.in, chairperson-ncw@nic.in, and complaintcell-new@nic.in, NAMTA and the academics provided precise information about the crime that occurred on May 4. News18 has viewed a screenshot of the transmitted email. The letter described the unfortunate Kuki survivor’s ordeal, stating that “On May 4, two women from B Phainom village of Kangpokpi District of Manipur were disrobed, paraded naked, beaten, and then encircled by a marauding Meitei mob and raped in public.” “The state police commandos remained mere spectators while the mobs remained silent spectators to the lynchings and torching of homes. The two survivors are housed at a Churachandpur district relief camp,” it added. The letter continued, “We make an earnest appeal to the National Commission for Women to urgently assess the disproportionate victimization of Kuki-Zomi indigenous tribal women through brutal and inhumane acts of sexual violence, including rape, kidnapping, public lynching, immolation, and murder. As a statutory body of the Government of India that appraises policy matters concerning women in India and advocates for their human rights and dignity, we appeal to your Commission and affiliated statutory bodies to take a firm stance against using rape as a weapon of conflict and vigilante justice and recognise these abhorrent practices a serious abuse of the fundamental human and women’s rights of Kuki-Zomi women.” The letter also listed five other incidents of alleged sexual violence and requested NCW to take suo moto cognisance. “We humbly and urgently request you to take suo moto cognizance of the matter and if possible, constitute an Inquiry Committee. We have faith in the Constitution of India and the enormous power that the National Commission for Women (NCW) exercises to create a just world," it added. One of the unidentified signatories told CNN-News18, “We received no acknowledgement or reply to our letter which detailed the sexual violence that women were facing.” To this, the women’s body said that they had received complaints which were forwarded to Manipur Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi and DGP Rajiv Singh. The NCW acknowledged receiving the complaint in a news release and said, “Another complaint was received from individuals outside Manipur, out of which one came from outside India. In this regard, the D.O. letter from Commission (NCW) dated 19 June 2023 was forwarded right away to CS for taking appropriate action.”

1.On 23rd May 2023, the Commission received complaints from a group in Manipur. These were forwarded and DO letter was written to Manipur CS and DGP for action by NCW Chairperson
2.Additionally, DO letter was sent On 19/06/2023, to CS for necessary action.@sharmarekha

— NCW (@NCWIndia) July 21, 2023

The commission did not, however, explain why no further action was taken for a month. However, NCW tweeted that it had taken suo moto notice of the situation and had questioned the DGP after the unsettling video went viral on July 20. “NCW condemns the Manipur incident. Taking suo moto cognizance. The DGP Manipur has been asked to promptly take appropriate action. @sharmarekha @MinistryWCD” the tweet said.

NCW condemns the Manipur incident. Taking suo motu cognizance. The DGP Manipur has been asked to promptly take appropriate action.@sharmarekha @MinistryWCD

— NCW (@NCWIndia) July 20, 2023

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Also read: What video of women being paraded naked tells us about violence in Manipur Other similar crimes According to News18, the activists on the request of anonymity had compiled the incidents based on their interviews with the victims of physical and sexual assault. “The number of affected parties are maybe more than reported,” according to the appeal quoted by The Hindu. “We had not seen the video when we sent the complaint. There was no knowledge about it. We wrote to the NCW based on our conversations with survivors and family members in Manipur,” one of the signatories told CNN-News18 on the request of anonymity. 3 May: Mobs surrounded the Manipur University campus in Imphal at around 9 pm in search of Kuki-Zomi villages’ members, instructors, and students. They intimidated and verbally insulted female students as they were ejected from their dorms. Until the Assam Rifles saved vulnerable students at 3.15 am, Nengneivah, a Kuki-Zo Ph.D. research researcher, hid in her dormitory bathroom. She could hear the mobs chanting, “Sida Kuki Nupi Leibra?” (Is there a Kuki woman here?) as they searched every room. Furthermore, “Kuki Nupi Hatlo” (Kill Kuki women), according to CNN-News18. [caption id=“attachment_12900262” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Members of Meira Paibis, powerful vigilante group of Hindu majority Meitei women, march toward a site of a gunfight in Kangchup, near Imphal, capital of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. PTI[/caption] 4 May: A Meitei mob of about 40 people harassed and abused 22-year-old Agnes Neikhohat and her friend, who were both Nightingale Nurse Institute students in Imphal. " Rape her! Torture her! Cut her into pieces!" As the assailants beat the friend and knocked out her front teeth, Meitei women yelled. 5 May: Two young women in their twenties named Themnu and Chongpi, who were from the Kangpokpi district’s H Khopibung hamlet, were raped and killed in Imphal’s Konung Mamang neighbourhood. The women were held captive for two hours by Meitei mobs who gagged, dragged, and locked them in a room. When the room was finally opened at around 7 pm, it was covered in a mixture of blood and hair, and the victims had already passed away from their wounds from the vicious attacks. Their employer had been powerless to protect them. The victims’ bodies are still in the JNIMS (Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences) mortuary in Imphal, and because of the tense situation at the time, the parents of the deceased are unable to collect the bodies to perform final rites. 6 May: In the Kangpokpi district’s Pheitaiching hamlet, Meitei miscreants mercilessly slaughtered, shot, and burned Thiandam Vaiphei, a 45-year-old widow and mother of two. 15 May: An 18-year-old woman was abducted from Checkon, Imphal, and was taken to a small community in Wangkhei by a group of Meitei men and women. When she resisted, the men beat and sexually attacked her while threatening to hack her to pieces. A hospital in Kohima, Nagaland, acknowledged that she had been assaulted and raped in her medical examination report. Medical care is being provided to the victim, including surgical correction of genital and jaw damage. According to Chief Minister N Biren Singh, there are “thousands of such FIRs” while explaining why police action in the viral video case came so late. Top police officials told News18 that there may be close to 6,000 FIRs, including gender-based violence. Also read: Manipur women horror: How rape and sexual violence are used as a weapon in conflict Weak justification While speaking to News18, NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said, “Many complaints from Manipur came to us and we immediately forwarded them to DGP and CS. After the video became viral, we again spoke to CS and DGP regarding the incident. Today also I spoke to the CM. Some people are trying to malign NCW, this is wrong. We did take action." On the DGP’s alleged inaction, she told the outlet, “I don’t know what is the situation on the ground. I spoke to CM regarding how again and again I sought a response from DGP but there was response. CM assured me that he will speak to the DGP." “The women’s commission can only advise the authorities and we did our work by advising the authorities in Manipur,” Sharma told Hindustan Times. Speaking on why the commission did not send a delegation to the state, Sharma responded, “Do you think a delegation could go there considering the situation? We did not send the delegation because the ground reality was known to everyone.” Also read: Manipur Horror: Will Biren Singh step down as chief minister? What NCW should do According to Section 10 of the National Commission for Women Act, the commission is tasked with bringing up cases of Constitutional and other women’s law violations with the appropriate authorities, investigating complaints, and taking suo motu notice of issues relating to the denial of women’s rights and the failure to put laws in place to protect them. The commission can request investigations into certain issues or circumstances resulting from discrimination and atrocities against women, and it can also identify the barriers in order to suggest solutions. They should speak with the proper authorities about specific circumstances and summon any person from across India. They can also dispatch fact-finding teams to the scene of the occurrence and offer victims’ aid. Criticism According to experts, the commission’s duties went beyond merely writing letters and making phone calls. Ranjana Kumari, chairperson of Women Power Connect, a national organisation of women’s groups, told Hindustan Times: “NCW has completely failed to fulfil its responsibility of protecting women and their dignity. It is not really standing by the women of India. It cannot just get away by saying that authorities did not respond to their letters. Why didn’t it just send a delegation? The state should have provided them with security or they could have reached out to the central government for security since they are a national commission.” In fact, Sharma led an NCW team that visited West Bengal shortly after the post-election violence in 2021, and upon her return, she harshly condemned the state’s Trinamool Congress administration. But in the instance of Manipur, it appears that she was willing to merely transmit concerns. Manipur violence According to media reports, the police on Thursday arrested four accused after the incident of the brutal assault of the two women.

The State has seen ethnic violence since 3 May that has resulted in at least 125 deaths and 40,000 people being forced to leave their homes. When the hill tribes resisted the dominant Meitei community’s petition for Scheduled Tribe (ST) designation, tensions in the state erupted. With inputs from agencies