- Thursday, February 27, 2025
More women in the state are coming out to contact the police to narrate the shocking experience they faced as the authorities encouraged them.
By: Shubham Ghosh
LESS than a month after a video showing two tribal women in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur being paraded naked and sexually assaulted by a mob, another incident of a sexual offence during the ethnic clashes in Manipur has come to the fore, after the survivor, who has been living in a relief camp, informed the police.
Like the previous incident, this case also reportedly took place in early May when the clashes started.
According to reports, more women in the disturbed state are coming out to contact the police to narrate the shocking experience they faced as the authorities encouraged them. The situation of women security in the state has come under the scrutiny ever since the video of the sexual assault of the two naked women stormed social media and caused outrage in India as well as as abroad.
In the latest incident, the victim — a 37-year-old married woman from Churachandpur district of Manipur — alleged that she was caught by a group of men — while she was feeling from her burning house with her two family members, including her two sons, niece and sister-in-law — and gangraped on May 3, around when the violence started in the district. The clashes started after a rally was taken out by the Kuki tribal people, who are in majority in the hills, over the demand of the Meiteis, who are in majority in the valley, to grant them the Scheduled Tribe status.
She said she gathered courage to approach the police after seeing reports of women coming up with the ordeal they faced.
“I did not disclose the incident to save myself and my family’s honour, dignity and to save ourselves from social ostracism. The delay in filing this complaint is due to social stigma… I even wanted to end myself,” she said in her statement attached with the ‘zero FIR’ (which can be lodged at any police station) filed with Bishnupur police station in Bishnupur district of Manipur on Wednesday (9), the NDTV report added.
The victim is now living in a relief camp for those who have lost their homes in the violence.
The case has been filed under sections 376D, 354, 120B and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, the report added.
She also said that her health worsened following the crime and she even contemplated committing suicide. She said she also went to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal, the state capital, but returned without seeing a doctor as she couldn’t even “express” herself.
But she eventually received treatment in JNIMS Hospital in Imphal as her health condition worsened.
“… I started realising the trauma and sufferings that I went through because of their heinous crimes committed against me without any fault of mine… Adequate punishment should be given to the gang of culprits who abused, sexually and physically assaulted me,” the woman was quoted as saying by NDTV.
