Husband of Woman Stripped Naked and Paraded in Manipur Describes Mob’s Attack as Savage Animal-Like Assault
The women were forcibly stripped and made to walk naked while being encircled by a violent crowd that dragged them to an open area, where one of them was reportedly subjected to a gang rape. Over two months later, the disturbing video of the incident surfaced on Wednesday.
In an interview with the Indian Express, one of the victims involved in the Manipur incident, where women were paraded naked by a mob, alleged that the police had abandoned them to the violent crowd.
After being forcibly stripped, the women were compelled to walk naked, with a mob surrounding them, and they were then dragged to a field, where one of them reportedly faced a gang rape. The video capturing the disturbing incident surfaced on Wednesday, over two months after it occurred.
In the video, a few men can be observed dragging the two women and engaging in inappropriate touching and groping.
The occurrence happened on May 4th, one day after clashes erupted in Manipur between the Meitei community, who are the majority in the valley, and the Kuki tribe, who are the majority in the hills. The clashes were a result of the Meiteis’ request for Scheduled Tribes (ST) status.
The First Information Report (FIR) was lodged after a delay of 15 days, but it wasn’t until yesterday that the initial arrests took place. The arrests came about after the distressing video of the incident started spreading rapidly on social media, leading to widespread and intense public outcry across the country.
According to a police complaint filed on May 18, the victims claimed that the younger of the two women was subjected to a “vicious gang-rape in broad daylight,” as reported by the newspaper.
As per the complaint, the women were part of a group attempting to flee from the mob during an attack on their village. The police intervened and rescued the group, intending to take them to the police station. However, the mob intercepted the group on their way and forcibly took them away from police custody, as stated in the complaint.
The mob targeted three women, with an additional woman in her 50s reportedly facing a similar humiliating ordeal. The youngest woman’s father and brother were also apprehended by the violent crowd. Tragically, the complaint states that her brother lost his life while bravely attempting to protect his sister from the mob’s assault. The younger man, aged 19, was making a valiant effort to rescue his sister from the attackers.
On Thursday, the younger woman recounted an extremely distressing experience to the Indian Express newspaper, where she narrated a terrifying ordeal in which the police provided minimal protection.
“The police were present alongside the mob that launched the attack on our village. They took us away from our homes and left us on the road near the village, exposed to the mob. It felt like the police handed us over to them,” explained the woman, as she recounted the incident over the phone from her husband’s residence, to The Indian Express.
“After the mob subjected us to their heinous acts, we were abandoned at the scene, and we managed to escape,” she recounted.
The woman stated that she had no knowledge of any video capturing the incident until it surfaced on Wednesday.
“We don’t have internet access here in Manipur, so we wouldn’t have known,” she explained.
The woman’s husband, a former army personnel who is said to have served in the Kargil war, shared with India TV the most agonizing hour of his life. He described how the mob approached them with a savage ferocity, likening their attack to that of animals, armed with weapons and a clear intent to kill.
“They (the mob) separated the women and coerced them into removing their clothes,” he expressed concern about the possibility of further similar assaults.
As a result of the viral video compelling the state authorities to take action, four individuals have been arrested thus far.
