Manipur Is Dying: Women stripped to the bone, gang-raped!!

KAKALI DAS

An emergence of a horrific video of two women being paraded naked on a road by a group of men in the violence-hit North-eastern state of India, Manipur has been shared widely on social media, drawing massive condemnation and cause for action.

The women, one in her 20s and the other in her 40s, were stripped to the bone, made to walk on the road towards a field by a mob of men on May 4.

The victims, in their police complaint, have said that the younger woman was “brutally gang-raped in broad daylight”.

The video showed the distraught women being pushed around and groped by their attackers. Didn’t anyone among the mob have any conscience?

The complaint said that the two women had fled to a forest after their village in Kangpokpi district was attacked by a mob.

They were later rescued by Thoubal police, and were being taken to the police station, but were stopped by the mob on the way and seized from police custody.

They were two kilometres away from the police station.

The complaint said that the father and the brother of the younger woman were killed by the mob.

“After all the men were killed, and the mob did what they did, we were just left there and we escaped,” the younger woman told the Indian Express.

She said that she was not aware of the video of the incident. “There is no internet here in Manipur, we wouldn’t know,” she said.

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Two months after the incident, the Manipur Police announced today, that they have arrested one accused. ANI reports that the 32-year-old was the “main culprit” and has identified him as Huirem Herodas Meitei of Pechi Awang Leikai.

Chief Mninister N Biren Singh had confirmed the same earlier in the day, amid criticism over the handling of the situation in Manipur and shortly after the apex court rapped the Manipur government. While the men’s faces are visible, only one person has been arrested so far on charges of gang rape – Why?

“A thorough investigation is currently underway and we will ensure strict action is taken against all the perpetrators, including considering the possibility of capital punishment. Let it be known, there is absolutely no place for such heinous acts in our society,” the otherwise voiceless CM of Manipur had tweeted.

Manipur Police has registered a case of abduction, gang-rape and murder against the unknown armed miscreants in connection to the video. The incident took place a day after violent clashes broke out between the tribal and non-tribal groups that have taken more than 150 lives and displaced more than 40,000 people so far.

“We don’t even know what is normal in Manipur anymore, and I would choose death over what these women are going through” – a Kuki activist in Manipur said.

Violence of women has become a mundane affair in Manipur. This is not the only rape incident that has happened in the state in the last few months – an another such instance of violence was reported in the state, in which two students were pulled out from their rented house in front of everyone in their locality, gang-raped, brutally killed.

The bodies of these two women are still lying in the morgue in Imphal, unidentified by the family because of the only reason that Imphal is not reachable for the Kuki people. No reports on whether any autopsy, or post mortem have been done on them so far.

So, is there anyone who will take accountability for the gruesome brutality in the state?

The cousins of the two women whose video went viral said – “It would have been better had they died that day”. Imagine the pain, the unimaginable suffering in these words!

Will these women be able to live a life like this, with this gut-wrenching pain?

We, from the other end, are merely the viewers of the video from the comfort of our homes, but for these women, to live with this trauma throughout their life, belonging to such a small community, recognised by everyone, in every nook and corner – it’s inexplicable a terror!

I pray and beg for the country, for India to come together and give them a place where their identities will not be revealed, a place where they live the rest of their life without carrying this stigma throughout. I pray to the government to do something to protect their identity.

As said by a Kuki activist in an interview – the names of the girls, even of their parents’ were publicly written and circulated on social media by a few miscreants. It’s strictly against the law – but, it seems, in Manipur, every kind of brutally is considered normal by the law. This is complete lawlessness, and failure by the Indian legal and judicial system.

What’s even more ridiculously unacceptable is the fact that it took months for the police, the politicians to open their agenda-driven mouths for the state! Why were they silent when the entire state was grappling in fire? Can those in power grow some spine and take accountability for it?

After months of utter silence, our Prime Minister Modi has finally awakened with his first comment on the Manipur violence – “Shameful”.

He says his heart is filed with pain, with anger, but where was he in the last few months when the entire state was begging, awaiting for their PM to speak up on the state? Is it because of the upcoming election that’s drawing near? Is his sudden comment on the state only because of the European Parliament passing resolution against violence in Manipur?

It is sorrowful that the government is perpetrating crimes and crimes over the poor and marginalised. How long will this Taliban-like situation continue in Manipur? It feels as if the government has suddenly checked the map of India, and realised Manipur is also a part of the country. SHAME!

Moreover, the brutal truth is – the government wouldn’t have even paid any attention had the video not been circulated. There are not merely these two women, what about the rest? “We’ve been enduring grinding our teeth with tears for months” – a Manipuri Woman said.

This incident has shaken our conscience and has embarrassed us as a society. The government must be ashamed of itself. This is not against Kukis or Meiteis, this is against the women, the humanity. The government should apologise to the Women of the world. It’s utterly unforgivable.

As a woman, my body is dead and numb. I felt the touch, I felt the humiliation, I felt the pain. Why are women always targeted in such wars? Now, I say, Chandrayaan-3 is an utter failure – we boast of emotion less achievements we made, but we treat humans like some cattle to be fed in our meals.

A country dies when its citizen refuses to stand up for that what is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A soul die when it refuses to take a stand for that which is true. Please speak up, raise your voice for the sake of humanity! Manipur is dying!

I am sorry! I am sorry that the people of Manipur are suffering! I am sorry that violence is sexualised! I am sorry that the bodies of women have become the battlefield of the conflict! I am shaking! My fingers are numb to even continue with my sentences…

Images from different sources

KAKALI DAS is the Assistant Editor of MAHABAHU

Mahabahu.com is an Online Magazine with collection of premium Assamese and English articles and posts with cultural base and modern thinking.  You can send your articles to editor@mahabahu.com / editor@mahabahoo.com (For Assamese article, Unicode font is necessary)