Manipur Assault Case Victims Allege That They Were Abandoned By The Police

A video of two women from the Kuki-Zomi community being paraded naked and sexually assaulted in Manipur has caused outrage.

According to reports, one of the victims has claimed that they were abandoned to the mob by the police.

The disturbing video shows two women, one in her 20s and the other in her 40s, being forced to walk naked down a road and towards a field by a group of men. The men can be seen dragging the women towards a field and groping them.

The victims had filed a police complaint on May 18, alleging that the younger woman was brutally gang-raped in broad daylight.

According to the complaint, the women sought refuge in a forest after their village in Kangpokpi district was attacked by a mob. They were later rescued by Thoubal police and were being taken to the police station when they were intercepted by another mob, who seized them from police custody about two kilometers away from the station.

However, the younger woman, speaking from her husband's home, has accused the police of complicity. She claimed that the police were present with the mob that attacked their village. The police allegedly picked them up near their home and left them on the road with the mob, effectively handing them over to their attackers.

According to the victims' complaint, there were five individuals present during the incident. This group included the two women shown in the video, another woman in her 50s who claims to have also been stripped, and the father and brother of the youngest woman, who the victims allege were killed by the mob.

The victim mentioned that neither she nor her family were aware that a video documenting the incident existed. The circulation of this video has caused national outrage and prompted the state government and police to take action, even though the complaint was filed two months prior.

Due to the lack of internet access in Manipur, the victim explained that she and her family would not have known about the video.

She mentioned that although there were numerous men involved in the mob, she could identify a few of them. Among them was a person she knew to be a friend of her brother.

In response to the widespread anger caused by the video, the government announced today morning that one individual has been arrested in relation to the incident.

The police later confirmed that efforts to apprehend more of the culprits are still underway.

PM Modi also spoke on the incident, expressing pain and promising that the actions would be dealt with the strictest punishment.