Horrific videos of two young women being paraded naked on a road by a mob in Manipur have been widely circulated on social media, drawing widespread condemnation and demand for the strictest actions. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) claimed that the two women were also gang-raped in a paddy field after being paraded naked on May 4.
Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar took to Twitter and condemned the incident. He wrote, “Shaken, disgusted to see the video of violence against women in Manipur. I hope the culprits get such a harsh punishment that no one ever thinks of doing a horrifying thing like this again.”
According to a spokesperson of ITLF, the "despicable scene, which happened on May 4 in Kangpokpi district, shows men constantly molesting the helpless women, who cry and plead with their captors. "The horrifying ordeal suffered by these innocent women is amplified by the perpetrators' decision to share the video, which shows the identity of the victims, on social media."
While condemning the "sickening act", the spokesperson in a statement demanded that the central and state governments, National Commission for Women and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes take cognisance of the offence and bring the culprits before the law.
Responding to the incident, Manipur Police, in a tweet, said: "All out effort to arrest culprits as regard to the viral video of 02 (two) women paraded naked: As regard to the viral video of 02 (two) women paraded naked by unknown armed miscreants on 4th May, 2023, a case of abduction, gangrape, and murder etc was registered at Nongpok Sekmai PS (Thoubal District) against unknown armed miscreants and the investigation has been started. The State Police is making all-out effort to arrest the culprits at the earliest."
Manipur state has been witnessing ethnic clashes since May 3 between the majority of the Meiteis, concentrated in Imphal valley, and the Kukis, occupying the hills. Over 160 people have been killed in the violence so far.
