NEW DELHI: Fresh reports of violence against women are being reported from the violence-hit Indian state of Manipur, as the response to a viral video showing women being paraded naked by a crowd encourages many other women to speak, BBC reported on Sunday.
BBC reported that a woman of the Kuki tribe could not find the courage to register a complaint with the police as she disclosed that her 18-year-old daughter had been kidnapped from their house, gang-raped, and then left very badly beaten at their house’s entrance.
Women Break Silence as Atrocities Continue in India’s Manipur: British Media
The woman told BBC that the perpetrators threatened to kill her daughter if she disclosed it. She said that now she wants justice and punishments for the culprits.
19-year-old Chiin Sianching told the British media that she and her friend were singled out for belonging to the Kuki tribe and assaulted in the hostel they lived in Imphal. She added that they were dragged out to the street and beaten unconscious and the mob ran away as the crowd thought that “We were dead”.
She added that the latter police found their bodies and realized that they were alive.
Earlier, a mob paraded naked two women in the violence-hit northeastern state of Manipur. The police said they had opened a case of gang rape and have also arrested a man, adding that others will also be held soon after a video showed two women being paraded naked by a mob.
Police said the assault on the women took place on May 4 but it made national headlines on Thursday after the video started going viral on social media.
Read Also: Christian Protesters in India’s Jharkhand State Demand Justice for Victims of Manipur Incident
Manipur state has been badly hit by violence and more than 130 have died and 60,000 have been displaced since ethnic clashes started between the Meitei and Kuki communities in May.
It’s well known that women are often a victim of conflicts, and rape and sexual assault are used as instruments of violence to punish them. The sexual assault of a Kuki mother and daughter duo, who were molested by a mob of men in Manipur, is the latest example of that.
The video footage showing the women weeping, wincing in pain, and begging their attackers to show some mercy is disturbing to watch.
The fact that the first arrest was made only after the outrage 78 days after the incident and was reported to the police more than two months back doesn’t inspire much confidence in the administration – more so since many of the men are clearly identifiable in the footage.
The incident has also raised questions about the failure of the state in comforting the survivors and finally forced Modi to make a statement on the ethnic violence.
“The gang rape of the women happened after the village was burnt down and two men – one middle-aged and another a teenager – were beaten to death by the mob,” local said.
Several opposition leaders also criticized the BJP government for not doing enough to quell the violence in the state.
