Murder to assault: 11 FIRs detail grisly attacks on women in Manipur
Eleven cases documenting crime against women during the ethnic clashes in India's Manipur detail grisly incidents : the gang-rape of five women; murder of four; and assault with intent to outrage the modesty of 10.
The information comes from HT's review of the state government's status report , submitted in the Supreme Court on 1 August. The report further discloses that there has been no arrest till date in the case of gang-rape and murder of two women in Imphal East on 4 May, nor has there been any detention in another case of gang-rape where an 18-year-old woman came forward to narrate the ordeal herself.
In her complaint at the Kangpokpi police station, the 18-year-old described how she was first abducted and assaulted by four men in Imphal East on 15 May before being handed over to four other men, who drove her to a hilltop. According to the status report, three men raped her there.
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"While the men were arguing among themselves whether to kill her, one of them was trying to turn the car around and by accident, it hit the victim and she fell off the creek from that hilltop," stated the survivor's complaint, adding she was rescued by an auto-rickshaw driver carrying vegetables.
Apprehensive of being taken to a nearby police station, the woman requested the driver to rather take her home. Next day, she left Imphal for Nagaland where she was admitted at the Kohima Hospital, as per the status report.
A Zero FIR at the Kangpokpi police station was lodged on 21 July and it was converted into a regular FIR by the Porompat police station in Imphal East the next day, but nobody has been arrested so far. "Twenty witnesses have been examined. The place of occurrence is yet to be established and the accused persons are still unidentified. Efforts are afoot to identify the culprits and to cause arrest," read the Manipur government's report in the top court.
In the case of rape and murder of two women from the state's Kangpokpi district who worked at a carwash in Imphal East, the status report maintained that "the investigation is in full swing" even as it concedes that there has not been a single arrest . The victims, aged 21 and 24, were reportedly attacked by a mob on May 4; brutally assaulted, raped and murdered amidst the wave of ethnic violence.
The medical report opined that the two died of multiple incised wounds and stab wounds, said the status report, adding the police have so far found details of only 3 out of 14 other employees who worked with the victims at the carwash. Here again, no arrest has been made till date.
This incident happened on the same day two women were stripped, paraded and one allegedly gang-raped by a frantic mob at Nongpok Sekmai in Manipur's Thoubal district -- in an incident that triggered massive outrage and prompted the Supreme Court to take a suo motu cognisance of the viral video of the horrific episode.
The August 1 status report by the N Biren Singh government, through chief secretary Vineet Joshi, was filed in response to the court's specific queries regarding the incidents of crime against women during the Meitei-Kuki clashes in Manipur, which has witnessed at least 150 deaths since 3 May.
About the viral video case, the status report informs the court that two women of the family were gang-raped while their father and brother were killed by a mob on 4 May. While the Zero FIR in this case was filed on 18 May – 14 days after the incident, the victims' statements were recorded by the police only on 24 July.
After the state government's recommendation for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 24 July, the Centre put CBI in charge of this case three days later. This is the only case where the Manipur police made arrests. Seven people, including a juvenile, were apprehended by the police after the videos went viral.
In another case, two women, aged 23 and 24, were ruthlessly assaulted by an unruly mob in Imphal East on 4 May. They were moved to a hospital but could not survive the fatal attack. There has been no arrest made in this case, as per the status report.
The report also includes another suspected case of killing in which two minors – a girl and a boy, were reportedly kidnapped on July 6 from Imphal West and have remained untraceable till date. According to the "source reports" with the police, the two were taken to another village, killed and buried on 12 July. The police are yet to make any headway.
Among the cases of assault with intent to outrage modesty registered under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code, one pertained to a 56-year-old woman who was assaulted by an officer of the central reserved police force (CRPF) on May 12 while in another, a woman was dragged out of her car, viciously attacked and her son was killed in front of her by a mob on 4 May in Imphal West. In both these cases, there have been no arrests.
Similarly, in another three cases involving assaults on seven women, the police are yet to apprehend the suspects.
On 1 August, when a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud persued this status report, it reproached the "lethargic" and "tardy" probe into the loss of human lives, dignity and properties during the ethnic violence in Manipur, summoning the state's director general of police (DGP) on 7 August to furnish an explanation.
"One thing is clear; the state police are incapable of investigations. It's absolutely clear they have lost control of law and order in the state...There is no law and order left in Manipur. Investigation is so lethargic. For two months, FIRs are not recorded, arrests are not made, and statements are recorded after such a lapse of time," it said.
Lamenting that the state has seen an "absolute breakdown of constitutional machinery for two months", the court directed the DGP to adduce all records relating to the date of incidents, timing of registrations of FIRs, arrests made, and the recordings of the victims' statements.
