It took a 26-second leaked clip from Manipur to jolt the government, judiciary, administration and the public to sit up and take note of the heinous violence that was inflicted on women in Manipur since the ethnic clashes broke out in the state on 3 May. Until then, only mob attacks, clashes and arson were talked about. Rape was not part of any public conversations, but mentioned only in whispers.
Then a horrific viral video hit social media. It showed two Kuki women who can be seen paraded naked, groped and beaten by a mob. And it lit into Indians’ conscience instantly.
“The entire country has been insulted, and 140 crore countrymen are feeling ashamed,” said PM Modi outside Parliament, breaking his three months of silence on Manipur violence.
The Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud also gave an ultimatum to the government and the Chief Minister of Manipur, N. Biren Singh, saying “we will take action if nothing is happening on the ground”.
Talking to ThePrint on Wednesday, Singh, who has been widely criticised for how he has handled the ethnic violence, said that he will push for capital punishment of the accused.
“I am shocked beyond words and strongly condemn this heinous crime. This is a crime against humanity. Directions have been issued to check the authenticity of the video and arrest the culprits immediately. We will press for capital punishment in this case,” Singh told ThePrint.
The swift overnight reactions that have surfaced after the video is why Manipur rapes is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of The Week. It is belated but the culture of silence around sexual assaults in riot situations appears to be finally shattered.
Considering the sensitivity of the matter at hand, the Opposition it seems is carefully treading the criticism line. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Prime Minister, the issue is not that it’s a shame for the country. The issue is the immense pain and trauma inflicted on the women of Manipur. Stop the violence immediately.”
“We must stand united in condemning such inhumane actions by the miscreants & bring justice to the victims,” said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Twitter.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, however, attacked Modi directly, saying that the PM was silent (for long) and this is a sign of a weak leader.
BSP leader and former UP CM Mayawati questioned the Manipur CM continuing in office: “Although the law and order situation in the state has already deteriorated, will the BJP still continue to protect such a chief minister?”
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Where rapes are wake-up call
It all began with that abominable feature of 21st century tech: fake news.
A week before the public outcry over the leaked video, ThePrint in its exclusive coverage, unearthed how a mob raped six Kuki women in Manipur soon after the riots broke out.
Angry mobs used women’s bodies to take vengeance after a fake news circulated a day after the riots started showing a photo of a young woman’s body wrapped in a plastic bag. It went viral. The message with the photo claimed it to be of a Meitei nursing student—Kuki men allegedly raped and killed her in Churachandpur Medical College.
The news was fake. But it became a tool to instigate the mob and unleash a spate of violent attacks on innocent women. Sexual crimes against women during riots are the least talked about in conflict. If reported, they come to light after the news of killings and lootings.
Manipur is no different. The FIR filed on the rape appeared more than two months after the crime was committed. It is a testimony to the social stigma and culture of silence around rapes that Indian women still battle. It also shows the state’s apathy towards sexual crimes committed against women in times of ethnic riots.
Last month, ThePrint tracked down the women survivors, family members and first care givers of victims of sexual crimes. Finding shelter in relief camps and still scared of retribution, the women informed ThePrint that filing complaints with the police is still a tough battle.
The mob of men raped a 40-year-old woman and a woman in her early twenties in the paddy field in Bishnupur district. These are the two women in the leaked video. Two other women in their twenties who worked at the car wash were allegedly raped and killed in Imphal. The men also allegedly raped an 18-year-old teenager from Kangpokpi on 15 May. She was taken to a hospital in Nagaland where her medical reports confirmed rape. The sixth woman is a medical student who denied to ThePrint that she was raped, but her caregivers informed us that fear and stigma is stopping her from talking to the press about the atrocity.
The shame, humiliation and stigma attached with rape is immense. And the long trial once their cases go to court, would not let them forget the trauma and move on, they said.
Action or reaction?
By Thursday, the Manipur police arrested four accused men and are on the lookout for more. But action has come two months late—only after the video started to circulate.
The FIR on the 4 May incident which shows the two women in the viral video was filed on 18 May, two weeks after the incident.
In the case from Imphal, the parents of two women in their 20s filed an FIR on alleged rape and murder. The FIR included sections on rape. But as per the information from the families, the investigation in the case has not progressed.
Meanwhile, for the survivors, the leaked video is a reminder of the horrors they had to live through and it may push them to go deeper in their shells instead of coming forward to report the crime.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)