After the bone-chilling video Manipur gang-rape went viral on social media forcing the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak about the crime, one of the two victims has revealed that the police themselves took them from their home and handed them over the rapist mob.
Even though the incident had taken place on May 4 and the government was fully aware of it the PM condemned the incident only after the video of the incident went viral sending shockwaves across the country.
The video shows sexual violence and humiliation of the two Kuki women - a girl in her 20s and a woman in her 40s - paraded naked in Kangpokpi district of Manipur. The victims in the video are seen surrounded by a mob, who not only forced them to strip but also groped them and sexually molested them.
One of the victims seen in the video, has said that the police present during the whole episode not only failed to act but were also complicit in a way that it was the police that "gave" them to the mob.
The startling revelation was made by the younger victim to the Indian Express newspaper. She said that an FIR was lodged on May 18 and alleged that the police was with the mob that attacked their village. She also alleged that the police took them away from their village and left them on the road, where the mob was. "We were given to them by police,” she said.
Recalling the ordeal, the victim said that there were total of five people, which involved her, a woman in 40s seen in the video, another woman in her 50s who was also stripped they alleged, and that father and brother of the girl in 20s, who were killed, she said.
On the culprits, she said that though there were a lot of people, she can recognise or identify some of the men, including the one who was a friend of his brother. She also said that they were not aware about any video of the incident as there has been a ban on internet in Manipur.
ITLF statement
According to a spokesperson of Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), the "despicable scene, which happened on May 4 in Kangpokpi district, shows men constantly molesting the helpless women, who cry and plead with their captors."
"The horrifying ordeal suffered by these innocent women is amplified by the perpetrators' decision to share the video, which shows the identity of the victims, on social media," said a statement by the forum. The state of Manipur has seen violence since May 3 after conflict broke out between the Meitei and Kuki community members. Widespread violence and arson has been reported from the state ever since the ethnic conflicts broke out.
Manipur police statement
All-out effort to arrest culprits as regard to the viral video of 02 (two) women paraded naked :* As regard to the viral video of 02 (two) women paraded naked by unknown armed miscreants on 4th May, 2023, a case of abduction, gangrape and murder etc was registered at Nongpok Sekmai PS (Thoubal District) against unknown armed miscreants and the investigation has been started. The State Police is making all-out effort to arrest the culprits at the earliest.
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