Another horrible case of sexual assault that transpired during the ethnic violence in Manipur in early May surfaced recently. The 37-year-old victim, who was gang-raped on 3rd May and has been staying in a relief camp for internally displaced people reported the shocking matter to the authorities on 13 July. She didn’t disclose the crime for over two months, and the matter was reported by the media last month after an FIR was registered by the police.
The woman, a mother of three children, is a resident of Churachandpur district and stated that she was caught by a group of men on 3 May and gang-raped while she was fleeing from her burning house with her two sons, niece and sister-in-law. The case has been filed under Sections 376D, 354, 120B and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). According to the first information report (FIR), at 6.30 pm, miscreants started burning the woman and her neighbour’s houses, after which she, her two sons, niece and sister-in-law ran as fast as they could.
The mother of three recently recounted the gut-wrenching episode in an interview with News The Truth and stated, “I don’t wish this upon any other woman. I was running with my children. They raped me till I had my senses.”
She continuously cried during the interview and was helped by another woman who was accompanying her who revealed, “It was on the 3rd of May around 6:30 to 7 pm. They (Kuki militants) burned their houses and when they (she and her family) saw that their houses were burnt, she along with her two kids, the younger one is 7 years old and the other one is 11 years old and she was carrying a baby of 4 and a half years old on her back and the baby girl is her niece, they came running along with her sister-in-law, Indo who was also carrying a baby of 2 and a half years old.”
She continued, “They were running to save their lives. They ran for nearly half a kilometre. She fell down and hurt herself on her knees and forehead and she was unable to stand up. When her sister-in-law turned back, she took the baby on her back and told her to run away from the scene with her two kids and told her to stand up and start running but she was unable to do so.”
As she was struggling with her injuries the accused reached there. “While she was trying to get up they came and then they forced her. They pinned her down and did all kinds of unwanted things like they held her and touched her. I just don’t want to mention all those unwanted things here but she was totally pinned down. She sought help and screamed but she was totally helpless.”
The woman unveiled the victim’s heart-shattering trauma. “Five people are holding a woman down at the same time, so she is helpless. Now, they do all those unwanted things and after some time another four or five militants come, militants or something I don’t know. Those people came and they too started to harass her. At that moment, she lost consciousness and when she regained it, she found herself in a Meitie’s house. She was also surrounded by many people and they sprinkled water on her face.”
She asked for her kids as soon as she regained consciousness, however, they were all gone since she told them to run away and leave her because if they waited for her, their lives would be in danger and her sister-in-law took the little girl with her. “After searching for around half an hour she found her kids who were hiding in the corners of the houses. When she called their names they came running to her and they spent the whole night in that house.”
Afterwards, they were evacuated to another place by the Army personnel. Initially, she didn’t tell anyone about the occurrence. “She kept it to herself, but her health deteriorated. She went to a Primary Health Care (PHC) and was referred to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Hospital. She was afraid that the doctor might disclose what happened to her if she visited them. She came back home without going to the doctor.”
The victim’s health continues to get worse. She had severe abdominal pain and she experienced some kind of Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) symptoms including itching. She went to Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) Hospital on 7 July. “She didn’t reveal this incident to her husband or anyone else. She suffered all those days. All those people, their houses were burnt. All their life savings, they lost everything. They who were once rich now turned into beggars. They don’t even have a penny and above all, she was gang raped.”
“She’s a mother of three. We complained to the police on 9 July. We tried to file for FIR on 8 July but it wasn’t possible. She visited JNIMS Hospital.” The woman and her sister (not by blood) went to the JNIMS hospital for the latter’s treatment and found the victim sitting on a bench along with one lady. She was crying a lot and they gave her encouragement to share her ordeal with them.
They also praised the police for their support. “Police helped a lot and they were very cooperative. They also urged her to speak the truth while giving a statement and told her not to be afraid. Yesterday, we were supposed to meet the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the investigation but because of some rule that’s applicable here, maybe we would meet them tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”
The victim mentioned that one of her children was there and two were at a children’s home. Her husband is also aware of the entire episode and is in support of his spouse. The woman conveyed, “But for the first time when he heard he was very disappointed and he was very angry because she opened up to us. It was due to social stigma.”
The victim voiced, “I did not disclose the incident to save myself and my family’s honour, dignity and to save ourselves from social ostracism. The delay in filing this complaint is due to social stigma. I even wanted to end myself,” with the ‘zero FIR’ submitted to the Bishnupur police station on 13 July.
Zero FIR is an FIR that can be registered by any police station, irrespective of jurisdiction, when it receives a complaint regarding a cognisable offence. No regular FIR number is assigned at this stage. After receiving the Zero FIR, the relevant police station registers a fresh FIR and starts the investigation.
She added, “I carried my niece on my back and also held my two sons and started running from the spot along with my sister-in-law. She was also carrying a baby on her back and running ahead of me. Then I stumbled and fell down on the road and was unable to get up. My sister-in-law came back running towards me and picked up my niece from my back and ran along with my two sons as I insisted,” 35 km from her ruined place of residence.
The victim observed, “When I finally managed to get up, some five to six miscreants got hold of me. They started verbally abusing and assaulting me. Despite my resistance, I was forcefully pinned down. After this, the men started sexually assaulting me.” She remembered all the harrowing events that happened to her in the FIR.
She recalled, “I started realising the trauma and sufferings that I went through because of their heinous crimes committed against me without any fault of mine. Adequate punishment should be given to the gang of culprits who abused, sexually and physically assaulted me.”
A medical evaluation of the victim was done concurrently with the filing of the FIR. Additionally, it is known that Churachandpur Police Station (PS) has received the FIR for further inquiry from Women PS Bishnupur.
Watch the entire interview below:
Manipur Violence
The ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state of Manipur has already resulted in more than 100 fatalities and thousands of displaced residents.
The first clashes occurred on 3 May following a “Tribal Solidarity March” organised by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) in the hill areas to oppose the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. Tensions rose in April as a result of a Manipur High Court decision ordering the state administration to make a decision regarding the Scheduled Tribe status issue.
Last month, an appalling video of two women in Manipur being paraded naked on a road by a gang of men went viral on social media and prompted widespread outrage and demands for action. The perpetrators shown in the footage have been taken into custody.
The Manipur Police informed the Supreme Court that more than 6,500 police cases had been brought in the roughly three-month span between May 3 and July 30. According to a police report filed in the Supreme Court, the majority of police cases have been classified as “arson, looting, and destruction of house property.”
These cases in thousands, inflated by multiple zero FIRs over the same cases, are arson (4,454), looting (4,148), destruction of house property (4,694), and damage to public property (584). These statistics illustrate the enormous damage to property in the northeastern state during the height of the ethnic unrest.
