NEW DELHI, MARCH 8, 2024 --- In the initial wave of violence that swept through Manipur beginning on May 3, 2023, a shocking number of 20 women were brutally killed in the most gruesome manner. This barbaric act marked a dire escalation in the turmoil and set the stage for the extensive human rights violations that followed.
Since that time, Manipur has continued to witness extreme human rights violations, horrendous murders, and a total breakdown of law and order. The Kuki-Zo tribal community living in the state’s capital, Imphal, and its periphery, have been forced to flee their homes after being hunted down in the most barbaric manner in the lanes of Imphal valley, Manipur. The Kuki-Zo tribals have been stripped of their fundamental right to life, and to date, even after numerous protests and calls for justice, a fair solution seems to be far away. The Kuki-Zo tribal community has fallen victim to the Meitei majoritarian propaganda, which has been successfully executed under the aegis of the Meitei-centric state government, headed by Chief Minister Shri N. Biren Singh. The distortion of historical facts, the dissemination of false reports by Meitei media houses, and the continuous vilification of the Kukis on various social media platforms have been the means employed by the Meiteis to suppress the voices of the Kuki-Zo tribals.
Women and children have not been spared either. A deeply disturbing video of two Kuki-Zo tribal women being paraded naked by a Meitei mob went viral on July 19, 2023, and shocked the world. This incident is only the tip of the iceberg in the utterly inhuman torture the Kuki-Zo tribal women have been subjected to. There are numerous testimonies of Kuki-Zo tribal women being raped, molested, and killed by Meitei mobs supported by Arambai Tenggols. Notably, the involvement of the Meira Paibis, who are supposedly the torchbearers of society and call themselves the guardians of civil society, in assaulting Kuki-Zo tribal women is profoundly disturbing. Video evidence shows a Kuki-Zo tribal woman being mobbed by the Meiteis while the Meira Paibis (Meitei mothers) are heard instigating the male youths to ‘take away her dignity,’ a euphemism for inciting molestation and rape. A woman and her son were burnt alive in an ambulance. A mentally challenged elderly woman was shot dead in broad daylight. A teenage girl was kidnapped and threatened by Meitei kidnappers that they would ‘chop her to pieces.’ Medical reports suggest that she was raped. In stark contrast to the instigation seen in Imphal, the compassion demonstrated by Kuki-Zo women in Churachandpur reflect a profound sense of humanity. Kuki-Zo women in Churachandpur formed a human barrier to protect the Meitei people amidst the chaos, preventing the mob from inflicting harm while the evacuations took place. This act of defense occurred despite the distressing events unfolding in Imphal, where reports have surfaced of Meitei women allegedly encouraging violence against Kuki women.
Calls for
justice have fallen on deaf ears, and the survivors are left to cope with the
haunting trauma on their own, while
the perpetrators freely roam around, facing no social or judicial consequences for their murderous acts.
FEW OF THE NUMEROUS ATROCITIES AGAINST KUKI-ZO WOMEN RAPE:
1. On May 5, 2023 Ms. Olivia and Ms. Florence, who were in their 20s, were gagged, dragged inside a closed room, where they were tortured, molested, and raped to death. A video of the incident shows local Meitei women, also known as the Meira Paibis, handing over the two women to the men and urging them to assault the women. This heinous act took place in Konung Mamang, Imphal, a location less than a kilometre from the bungalow of Manipur's Chief Minister, Biren Singh. Had there been action taken, those two young women, who suffered torture and rape, and were brutally mutilated, could have been saved.
2. On May 15, 2023 Ms. Kim, an 18-year-old girl, was abducted and taken to Wangkhei, then to Langol, where the kidnappers physically assaulted her and threatened to rape and chop her to pieces. She had a narrow escape and survived. Her medical reports indicate that she had been raped.
MURDER:
On May 4, 2023, Mrs. Veinem Chongloi, who was over 80 years old, blind, sick, and bedridden, was strangled by the Meiteis. Her two daughters, Ms. Helam and Ms. Hekim, who had been living with their aged mother in Uripok, Imphal since childhood, were also shot and killed in their courtyard. Having lived among the Meiteis since childhood, they had believed that their neighbors would not harm them.
MUTILATION:
On May 6, 2023 Mrs. Thiandam Vaiphei, 45 years old, was butchered and burned to death. It was found that her head had been hit and her throat slit before her gruesome death.
CRUEL TREATMENT AND TORTURE:
1. Ms. Hoi, 21, Mrs. Lam 42, and Mrs. Ting, 52, were stripped of their clothes and paraded naked. Ms. Hoi was brutally gang-raped.
2.
Ms. Agnes Nei, 22, and her friend were attacked by a Meitei mob who physically assaulted them. They were punched until
their teeth fell out, kicked until they were
unconscious, and left to die.
Agnes and her friend (name not mentioned), are students at the Nightingale Nursing Institute in
Porompat, Imphal. Around 4 p.m. on May 4, Meitei mobs attacked Agnes and her friend with sticks, punched them in
the head and face until their teeth fell out, kicked them in the stomach and back until
they were unconscious, and left them to die. Miraculously, they regained consciousness
in the hospital and managed to reach Lamka
after a few days.
1.
On July 6, 2023 Mrs. Donngaihching Hangzo,
63 years old, a mentally
challenged elderly woman,
was shot dead in broad daylight. Later, disturbing images of her corpse lying on the road were circulated by
Meitei-controlled media houses, falsely labeling her as a ‘suicide
bomber’.
2. On 15 July 2023, Mrs. Marim Lucy, a Maring Naga woman, was murdered by Meitei miscreants. The Imphal police were on high alert, and within 24 hours, 12 suspects were arrested. This gruesome murder was met with condemnations from various Meitei Civil Society Organisations and assurances of timely compensation for the bereaved family. The state government promised to deliver justice for Mrs. Marim Lucy. In contrast, the murderers of Mrs. Donngaihching Hangzo, Mrs. Veinem Chongloi, her daughters, and the numerous victims from the Kuki-Zo community are still roaming freely in the Imphal Valley, and no action has been taken against them.
DEPRIVATION:
Mrs. Lamneichong Khongsai, 24 years old, who was pregnant, died due to childbirth complications because of the lack of medical facilities in the relief camp where she was taking refuge.
EDUCATIONAL DISCRIMINATION:
1.
Students of Manipur University were hunted down
within the university campus by Meitei mobs
who entered women’s hostel rooms and specifically searched for Kuki students. Although they escaped alive, the students
lost their educational documents, research works, and project findings,
which are now reduced to ashes.
2. Medical students of JNIMS and RIMS escaped near-death experiences and are unable to continue their classes. They are still pleading for an alternative arrangement since returning to their institutions is as good as a death sentence.
3.
Kuki-Zo students enrolled in colleges under
Manipur University (MU), Dhanamanjuri University
(DMU), law colleges, and other educational institutions in Imphal have had their exam results tampered with by the
authorities. Enrollment in other universities has also proved difficult as their previous colleges and
universities in Imphal have refused to issue their migration certificates.
4. Kuki-Zo UPSC and SSC aspirants have to undertake long journeys to neighboring states of Nagaland and Mizoram to take exams since their state’s capital, Imphal, has become a Valley of Death for them. Concerned organizations have been requesting alternative arrangements by adding exam centers in Kuki-Zo districts. There has been no positive response from the concerned authorities so far.
The theme for International Women’s Day 2024 is “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”. The theme centers on the purpose of accelerating progress by investing in women and aims to inspire people to recognize the value of including women. However, Kuki-Zo women have been on the receiving end of inhuman torture, vilification, and have been stripped of their fundamental right to live with dignity. For the past ten months, they have been victims of unfathomable violence, their voices silenced and their cries for help ignored. For Kuki-Zo women, inclusion in the world’s lofty claims of its fight for justice, equality, and freedom is nothing more than a myth. While the dead bodies are decaying and the survivors struggle to heal from their traumatic experiences, the murderers and rapists roam about freely, eluding the ‘long arms of the law’.
Issued by:
Kuki-Zo Women’s Forum Delhi & NCR &
Kuki Students’ Organization Delhi & NCR
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