Two women raped, killed in Manipur on 4 May; no arrest
On 4 May, just an hour after a mob stripped and paraded three women and allegedly gang-raped one of them in B Phainom village in India's Manipur, two more women were allegedly raped and murdered by a mob in the state capital of Imphal, according to details of a first information report (FIR) seen by HT.
Not only did the two incidents happen on the same day within an hour of each other, the victims hailed from the same community (Kuki) as did the perpetrators (Meitei), according to the FIRs filed in both cases. And just like in the case of the brutal sexual assault, where the first arrests happened only after a shocking 30-second video of the incident went viral on Wednesday, there have been no arrests in the Imphal case, according to police officers aware of the matter.
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The two women who were allegedly raped and killed in Imphal were siblings who worked as caretakers at a carwash in the city, said the FIR filed by the victims' father. The women, aged 21 and 24, were at a rented house when a mob entered their room and raped them before killing them, the FIR added.
Speaking to HT, the father of the two women said, "My elder daughter's friend is a Meitei. We are Kukis. My elder daughter's friend told us that a mob of men and women had entered their house and murdered them. I went to the morgue with a police officer. There, the doctor said that my daughters were raped and murdered. I filed a complaint of rape and murder at the police station. Police have not informed me why they have not taken any action. They said they have preserved the bodies for investigation."
The alleged crime happened in their house in the Meitei-dominated Konung Manang area of Imphal on 4 May, the second day of ethnic clashes in Manipur that have killed at least 150 people and displaced another 50,000.
In the FIR, the father — who is a pastor — said he suspected the mob of around 100-200 to be members of Meitei youth organisations, Meetei Leepun, Kangleipak Kanba Lup (KKL), Arambai Tenggol and World Meitei Council. These groups have been named in multiple complaints of violence.
The complaint in the Imphal case was first filed as a "zero FIR" at the Saikul Police station in Kangpokpi district on May 16. A zero FIR can be filed at any police station and is used when a victim is unable to visit the police station under whose jurisdiction the crime occurred. It was unclear when the FIR was transferred to the appropriate police station, in this case the Porompat police station. No one has been arrested in the case so far, according to officials aware of the matter.
On 12 June, members of the North American Manipur Tribal Association and two women activists sent a complaint to the National Commission of Women (NCW) on the Imphal incident.
While the complainants said that there has been no response from NCW, the commission's chairperson Rekha Sharma on Friday said she wrote to the chief secretary and the director general of police (DGP) of the state at least three times in the past three months, and forwarded all the complaints received by her to them, including the 12 June complaint, which detailed at least five other instances.
"Since the complaint was from people not based in Manipur and in fact not even in the country we had to verify the authenticity of it. Therefore, we contacted the authorities in the state to verify them, but there was no response," Sharma said.
State police chief Rajiv Singh was not available for comment despite calls and text messages.
A police officer aware of the matter said, "The doctors have said the women died of multiple injuries. The doctors are analysing the nature of injuries. The probe in the case is on. It will be a detailed investigation."
The organisations named by the father of the two Imphal women were also mentioned in the FIR over the B Phainom village sexual assault case of 4 May.
The clip from that incident surfaced on Wednesday and sparked a nationwide outcry and allegations of laxity and complicity against the state administration led by chief minister N Biren Singh, questions about why the FIR was filed weeks after the crime, and why no one was arrested till the video went viral on social media.
Officials aware of the Imphal case details said that the bodies of the two women are at a mortuary of the Jawahar Lal Institute of Medical Sciences (JIMS) in the city.
Hejang Mizao, a member of the Kuki-Zo Unity Forum who has been coordinating with the family of the two Imphal women, said the case showed why the community was protesting against state inaction.
"Despite the family members approaching police two months ago, police have not acted in this case too. Police were forced to act in the other case because of the viral video but in many cases there are no videos," she said.
The alleged rape and murder of the two Imphal women was one of several cases mentioned in a statement on Thursday by 10 Kuki legislators, who had said that several such cases were not investigated properly. One of the legislators who signed that statement, Letpao Haokip, confirmed that the Imphal incident was one of the cases they had referred to.
"We do not have videos related to these incidents. But such incidents have been reported in the last two months in different parts of the state. We have spoken to the family members and then issued the press statement," he said.
In their statement, the legislators requested that the cases be handed to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
