Action delayed because didn't have video: Police on Manipur horror
The police arrested four people on Thursday after a video of a mob parading two women naked in violence-hit Manipur went viral. The action came more than two months after the incident, which took place on May 4. The police said that they couldn't take any action for so long because of a "lack of evidence" in the form of video.
Why does this story matter?
Manipur has been witnessing violent ethnic clashes for over two months. The Meitei community, which forms the state's majority, has been demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, alleging illegal cross-border infiltration from Myanmar and Bangladesh. The status will allow Meiteis to settle in hilly areas, which is being opposed by the state's tribal groups as they say it will strip away their ancestral land.
Came to know about video day before: Police
Thoubal district Superintendent of Police (SP) Sachidananda, under whose jurisdiction the incident occurred, said, "We only came to know about the video yesterday [Wednesday]. Now that we have evidence in the form of the video, we have swung into action and have begun making arrests."
Case transferred to relevant police station after a month
Right before the incident, a mob attacked the victims' village, forcing them to flee. The victims said that while they were fleeing, the police rescued them but later left them to the mob. One of the victims' husbands filed a Zero FIR—not restricted by jurisdiction to prevent delay in investigation—on May 18, but it was forwarded to the appropriate police station on June 21.
Mob allegedly killed victim's father, brother
In the complaint, the victims said that five of them were together—a woman in her 20s, her brother (19), her father, and two other women in their 40s and 50s. The mob allegedly killed the two men and forced the oldest woman to strip. The two women seen in the video were the one in her 40s and the youngest, who was allegedly gang-raped.
Police denies victims' claims, say mob attacked police station
However, the SP has denied victims' claims that the police accompanied the mob, which burned down their village, and later handed them over to the mob. He said, "That very day, the Nongpok Sekmai police station was being mobbed by people trying to loot arms. Police were busy guarding the police station." Notably, thousands of people have been displaced since the violence erupted.
