Trigger warning: This report carries descriptions of sexual assault.
New Delhi: “I will not return to Imphal. Just let me go,” an 18-year-old girl surrounded by four armed Meitei men in the outskirts of Manipur’s Imphal had pleaded. She was not spared; instead, she was raped by them one by one before she could escape, she later recounted in her police complaint.
Belonging to the Kuki ethnic community, she was among the first few sexual assault cases reported from Manipur at the start of the conflict, which has largely played out between the Meitei and Kuki groups.
The girl, who had been living under the shadow of her trauma, died Sunday at a community health centre in her village in Manipur’s Churachandpur. She leaves behind a grieving community.
People in Churachandpur gathered for candlelight vigils Sunday night, demanding justice for the girl. But her family, shattered by the loss of their beloved elder daughter who had not even turned 21, no longer hopes for justice.
Her 17-year-old sister, speaking to ThePrint, said that no arrests have been made so far, and now that her elder sister is no longer alive, any action taken from here on would be “worthless” for the family.
“She was the most loved and responsible child of my parents, and our father was deeply attached to her. After her, my father has been left without any hope,” she laments.
“She was so brutally injured that she never truly recovered,” the 17-year-old adds. “The repeated injuries and complications became too much for her to endure, and ultimately, they took her life.”
The victim, the elder daughter in the family, worked at a beauty salon in Imphal. Her earnings were a welcome contribution to the household, which was primarily supported by her father, a farmer, and her brother, who works in Delhi.
Until 15 May 2023—the day of the incident—the family was like any other in Manipur. Against the backdrop of growing unrest, the brother had returned home so they could stay together.
The incident changed everything.
Shaken to the core, the family spent months trying to help their daughter piece her life back together. But every effort failed.
The assault left her sister severely ill, both physically and mentally, the 17-year-old says. “She would show some improvement, but it never lasted long.”
Explaining how the ordeal affected the family, she says, “All of us were dying every day, watching her suffer through injuries and relapses… She was taken to hospitals, even to Guwahati. Despite so many visits and treatments, she could not survive.”
“Her last day of suffering was January 11,” she adds. “She complained of chest pain, and we rushed her to the community health centre in our village. She never returned home alive.”
The case
The case was initially registered as a zero FIR at the Kangpopki police station, but later, along with other sexual assault cases in the strife-torn state, was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The CBI is yet to make an arrest or file a charge sheet.
Around the same time, in another sexual assault of two women who appeared in a video of them being paraded without clothes, the CBI arrested and charged six Meitei men. A Guwahati court framed charges against them under sections of the SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, relating to armed rioting, gang rape, assault, and murder, and summoned them for trial earlier this month.
In her police complaint, the 18-year-old had reported that on 15 May 2023, four men in plain clothes took her hostage from near an ATM in Imphal. They dragged her to Wangkhei Ayangpalli Road on the outskirts of Imphal city. Soon, members of the all-woman Meitei outfit—Meira Paibis—among other locals, arrived at the spot, she claimed. They wanted to kill her but, instead, handed her over to four armed men with the Arambai Tenggol, another Meitei outfit, her complaint said.
“I heard these men (her initial captors) discussing that killing me here would not be a good idea, as one of these men said that ‘If we shoot her here, they would attract police from the nearby police station’. Then one of them said: ‘Kuki people rape Meltei women, kill them and put them naked in a plastic bag, but don’t worry. We will not go to such an extent after killing you,’” her complaint added.
“I looked around and fell at the feet of one of these men, who looked like the eldest and started begging for my life. I even promised them that I would never return to Imphal; just let me go; I want to meet my parents.”
However, the four armed men forced her into a car to take her to another location. They dragged her out of the vehicle at some unidentified spot and started assaulting her. “One of the blows on my face with the butt of the gun was so hard that I blacked out for a while. My eyes opened when I felt a drizzle of rain on my face. Upon gaining consciousness, they started beating me again…,” her complaint said.
The men then took her to the hilltop and took turns to rape her.
According to the complaint, after the gang rape, there was even an argument around whether to let her live. One person, who did not rape her, was “adamant that I should be killed”, but the other three “wanted to let me go”.
“I again started crying and begged for mercy, but they said that if we let you go, then you will go to the police to file an FIR, but rest assured, if you go to the police, we will find you and kill you. While they were arguing on whether to let me go or kill me, one of them was trying to turn the car around, and by accident, it hit me, and I fell off the hilltop,” she documented.
A rickshaw driver found her injured and hid her among the vegetables stocked in his vehicle. He was rushing her to the nearest police station, but she begged him to drop her off at home. She did not trust the police, said her complaint.
Later, she was taken to Kangpopki hospital, which referred her to Kohima hospital, according to the FIR, registered in July 2023, in the wake of widespread anger and condemnation over sexual assault cases.
The Churachandpur district administration offered monetary assistance to the family. But they were also seeking justice, the 17-year-old tells ThePrint, lamenting that her elder sister could not survive long enough to see the day.
“She developed several complications, including infections in her uterus and lungs, leading to persistent complaints of breathlessness.”
“We have run out of any hope we had,” the sister repeats.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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