NEW DELHI, July 19: A horrific video of two women being paraded naked on a road by a group of men in Manipur has been shared widely on social media drawing massive condemnation and calls for action across the country.
The two women were also gang-raped in a field before paraded naked, a tribal organisation claimed. The parading incident as it surfaced on Wednesday actually happened on May 4 in Kangpokpi district, some 35 km from state capital Imphal, according a statement by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF).
A day before this on-camera horror, clashes broke out between the valley-majority Meitei and the hill-majority Kuki tribe over the Meiteis’ demand for Scheduled Tribes (ST) status.
The ITLF, which represents the Kuki tribe, in the statement said the two women belong to the Kuki-Zo tribe. “A video which went viral today shows a large Meitei mob parading two Kuki-Zo tribal women naked toward a paddy field to be gang-raped. The despicable scene, which happened on May 4 in Kangpokpi district, shows the men constantly molesting the helpless women, who cry and plead with their captors,” the ITLF said in the statement.
“The horrifying ordeal suffered by these innocent women is amplified by the perpetrators’ decision to share the video, which shows the identity of the victims, on social media,” the ITLF said, and appealed to the National Commission for Women and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes to take action.
The Manipur Police have not commented yet on whether anyone has been arrested or a case has been filed. Political leaders and others have expressed shock over the Manipur incident on social media and asked the centre and the state government to take action against the men involved in the horrific act.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted in Hindi that pictures of sexual violence against women coming from Manipur are heart-wrenching. “The amount of condemnation of this horrific incident of violence against women is less. Women and children have to bear the maximum brunt of violence in the society,” she tweeted.
“Disturbing videos emerging from Manipur about a woman belonging to a particular community being paraded naked by a mob. There is total breakdown in the relationships of the two communities there. Hate has won in Manipur,” Tripura’s Tipra Motha Party chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma tweeted.
“Attention India. The modesty of two tribal women from Manipur were outraged on 4th May. They were paraded naked, fondled and beaten in full public glare. A disturbing video taken by a perpetrator leaked and got viral today. This breaks all level of humanity,” Manipur resident and journalist Hoihnu Hauzel tweeted.
Internet has been snapped in BJP-ruled Manipur since May 4. The state is still seeing sporadic violence. The Kuki tribe has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who belongs to the BJP. Over 120 have died in the ethnic violence and thousands have been injured.
(Manas Dasgupta)