Manipur simmers again as 3 bodies found mutilated after heavy firing in Ukhrul district

Violence in Manipur continues unabated. On Friday, mutilated bodies of three youths aged between 24 and 25 were found in Kuki Thowai village in Manipur’s Ukhrul district. The bodies were found after heavy firing in Ukhrul district. There were injury marks on the bodies apparently made using sharp knives and their limbs were also chopped off, officials said. The bodies of the three youths were found after police carried out a thorough search in the surrounding villages and forest areas. In the early hours of Friday, sounds of heavy gunfire were heard from Kuki Thowai village which falls under Litan police station. The incident comes days after a video showing two women paraded naked in a Manipur village went viral. The clip showed, a mob of men, allegedly belonging to the Meitei community, dragging the two women — one of around 20 years and the other in her 40s — in the Kangpokpi district. The women were allegedly “slapped and punched”. A complaint filed in the incident said one of the women was gang-raped. The video triggered massive uproar across the nation. In Manipur, the ethnic clashes broke out on 3 May after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status. For the unversed, Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Meanwhile, tribals - Nagas and Kukis - constitute slightly over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts. With inputs from agencies