Two other young women from Manipur’s Kangpokpi district were brutally assaulted and killed on the same day two tribal women were stripped, paraded, and allegedly gang raped by a mob, according to a police complaint, amid a wave of ethnic violence that hasn’t subsided, reported Muslim Mirror.
According to accounts, the women were set upon by a large group of men, accompanied by some women who actively encouraged the heinous act. The attackers then took the victims into a room where they were subjected to sexual assault, torture, and unimaginable horror.
The attackers reportedly switched off the lights, gagged the victims with clothes to stifle their cries, and subjected them to this harrowing ordeal for about one-and-a-half hours.
After the ordeal, the victims were dragged outside and left next to a sawmill in a bloodied and mutilated state. Their clothes were torn, their hair was chopped off, and their bodies bore the marks of unspeakable violence.
Due to the fear of social stigma attached to sexual assault, the identities of the victims were initially not disclosed. However, the mother of one of the victims showed immense courage and filed a Zero FIR at the Saikul police station on May 16th, as reported by The Indian Express.
The FIR stated that her daughter and the other woman were “brutally murdered after being raped and gruesomely tortured.” Subsequently, the case was transferred to the Porompat police station in Imphal East district.
As of now, no arrests have been made in connection with this horrifying incident. The Manipur police are currently investigating thousands of complaints related to various crimes, including the recent outbreak of ethnic violence that has claimed at least 125 lives and displaced over 40,000 people since May 3.
The clashes in Manipur began when the Kuki tribal group clashed with the ethnic majority Meitei over the sharing of economic benefits and quotas allocated to the tribes. While the central government dispatched thousands of paramilitary and army troops to quell the violence, the situation remains tense with sporadic incidents of violence and killings continuing.
The incident has sparked nationwide outrage, with activists and the North American Manipur Tribal Association lodging a complaint with the National Commission for Women.