Guwahati/New Delhi
The viral video of two Kuki-Zomi tribal women being paraded naked and sexually assaulted in Manipur is having a ripple effect in neighbouring Mizoram, wherein a grouping of former insurgents has asked the non-tribal Meitei population in the State to leave for their “own safety”.
Following the warning, the Mizoram government has stepped up security for the Meitei community while its Manipur counterpart has announced that it is willing to evacuate them even in chartered flights.
The caution to the Meiteis, who number around 2,000 in Mizoram, came from an association of former underground insurgents named the Peace Accord MNF Returnees’ Association (PAMRA). It stated that the sentiments of Mizo people were deeply hurt by the violence against the Zo ethnic community in Manipur, and that it is no longer safe for Meitei people to continue living in that State.
“The PAMRA appeals to all Meitei people in Mizoram to leave for their home state as a safety measure,” it stated. Following this, many members of the Meitei community left the Mizoram capital to either fly out to Manipur or drive down to Assam.
Cachar SP Numal Mahatta said many Meiteis reached Silchar from Mizoram on Saturday night and they have been kept at the building of the Lakhipur Development Block in Binnakandi area. “These are all well-to-do families and they came in their own vehicles. Some are college professors, while some work as senior government officials. They said that there have been no attacks in Mizoram as of now,” he was quoted by a news agency.
In so far as the police action in the viral video case is concerned, the cops have arrested two more persons including a minor. With the latest arrests, till now, six persons, including one who was seen in the video dragging one of the women at B. Phainom village, have been nabbed. Angry locals have torched the houses of two of the accused.
“As regards the viral video of two women, two more suspects, including the main accused and a juvenile, were arrested and apprehended today. Altogether, six persons, including five main suspects and a juvenile, apprehended.” the police tweeted.
Meanwhile, reports about a zero FIR in another case registered in the same police station where the viral video case has been registered have surfaced. The other case was in connection with abduction, rape and murder of two Kuki-Zomi women, employed in a car wash company. It was registered two days before the viral video case.
Earlier, the house of another suspect in the viral video case was torched by angry locals in the second such incident.
The house of the key accused, seen in the video prominently directing the mob, was torched on Thursday hours after his arrest. The FIR filed in the case on June 21 details how an armed mob of hundreds had attacked a village in Kangpokpi district and torched, looted houses, killed and committed rapes before abducting the two tribal women.
On Wednesday, a 26-second video surfaced showing the two women stripped naked, groped by a violent mob and taken towards a paddy field. The incident was of May 4, a day after violence erupted in Manipur.
The husband of one of the two women is a Kargil war veteran, who had served the Indian Army as a Subedar of the Assam Regiment. He lamented that he protected the country but could not save his wife from being humiliated.
“I fought for the nation in the Kargil war and was also in Sri Lanka as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force. I protected the nation but am dejected that after my retirement, I could not protect my home, my wife and fellow villagers. I am sad, depressed,” he told a Hindi news channel.
ELSEWHERE: A shutdown was observed in tribal dominated regions of Gujarat on Sunday to protest against the Manipur situation. Several market places in Tapi, Valsad, Dahod, Panchmahal, Narmada and Chhota Udepur, which are among 14 districts with sizable tribal population, were deserted. The shutdown was called by various tribal organisations and supported by the opposition Congress, AAP and Bharatiya Tribal Party. Hundreds of people from the Christian community formed a 4-km-long human chain in Ranchi to protest against the incident of women being paraded naked in Manipur. A special prayer was also organised at St Mary’s Cathedral.
