IMPHAL/NEW DELHI, July 21 (PTI): As the chorus of protests against the sexual assault of two women in Manipur grew louder, the four arrested men were remanded in 11-day police custody on Friday while the house of another suspect was set on fire by angry locals in the second such incident in connection with the case.
Proceedings in both the Houses of Parliament were paralysed for the second consecutive day over the issue of the ethnic violence in Manipur even as defence minister Rajnath Singh said in the Lok Sabha the government was ready for a discussion on the matter. Opposition members demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement followed by a debate.
As the Manipur police launched a massive manhunt to nab all the culprits, an FIR filed in the sexual assault case on June 21 detailed how an armed mob, nearly a thousand strong, had attacked a village in Kangpokpi district and allegedly torched, looted houses, killed and raped wantonly before abducting the two tribal women.
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A 26-second video that surfaced on Wednesday and went viral showed the two women stripped naked, groped by a violent mob and taken towards a paddy field on May 4, a day after violence erupted in the northeastern state, sparking a nationwide outrage.
As the opposition parties escalated their attack on the Centre over the Manipur issue, the Congress demanded that President Droupadi Murmu exercise her powers to dismiss the state government.
The husband of one of two women is a Kargil war veteran, who rued that though he protected the country, he could not save his wife from being humiliated. He had served the Indian Army as a Subedar of the Assam Regiment.
“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.
Police said the four accused in the sexual assault case, who were arrested, were remanded in police custody till July 31 by a court in Thoubal district.
It may be recalled that the complaint in connection with the case was lodged around a month ago – June 21 – at Saikul police station in Kangpokpi district.
The house of another suspect, who is yet to be arrested, was vandalised and torched by angry locals on Friday afternoon, police said.
According to police, the suspect’s house was located at Wangjing in Thoubal district.
“The suspect is yet to be arrested. He possibly fled home after coming to know that police were looking for him,” an official said.
The house of the key accused in the case was torched on Thursday, hours after he was arrested by police. According to police, he was seen in the video prominently directing the mob at B Phainom village of Kangpokpi district.
Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh said people of the state consider “women as their mother” but the miscreants who disrobed the two tribal women have “tarnished the state’s reputation.”
The chief minister said protests were launched across the state to condemn the incident.
“People of Manipur consider women their mother, but some miscreants have done this and tarnished our reputation. We have launched protests to condemn the incident across the state, both in valley areas and the hills.”
Singh said people are demanding that the culprits get the strictest punishment.
The chief minister had said on Thursday that he will ensure strict action is taken against all the perpetrators, including considering the possibility of capital punishment.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge demanded that the prime minister make an elaborate statement in Parliament on the Manipur situation, saying he could have dismissed the state chief minister instead of making “false equivalence” with Congress- governed states if he was angry over the matter.
“If the country now has any hope it is from President Droupadi Murmu ji. We want to urge you to use your special powers and dismiss the government in Manipur,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told reporters.
Amid the political slugfest, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee broke down as she cited a number of cases of crime against women, including alleged disrobing, in West Bengal during and after the recent panchayat polls.
“The situation in Manipur also prevails in West Bengal,” she told reporters in Delhi, as she hit out at West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Targeting the Centre over the Manipur sexual assault case, Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, said the BJP’s ‘Beti Bachao’ scheme has now turned into ‘Beti Jalao’ (Burn our daughters).
Eminent personalities in Manipur that included a filmmaker, musician, academician and entrepreneur termed the incident as “barbaric, shameful and against the human race” and demanded “strictest” punishment for the culprits.
The immediate focus should be on initiating efforts to stop the ongoing violence in the northeastern state, they said.
“It is an utterly barbaric and shameful incident against the human race,” National Award winning filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar told PTI.
In West Bengal, Filmmaker and activist Aparna Sen broke down when asked by reporters for her reaction and described the incident as “narimedh yagna” (woman sacrifice).
“I don’t know what to say or how to react to such a happening … All I can see is a narimedh yagna has taken place (in Manipur). Will it matter if I open my mouth? We have been giving our opinions for years. Have those mattered?” she said.
Different tribal organizations in Jharkhand took out a protest march in capital Ranchi against the violence and alleged torture on women in Manipur.
Leaders and cadres of the Assam Congress unit organised a ‘Bonti Projolon Karjyaxuchi’ (earthen lamp lighting programme) at the state party headquarters, Rajiv Bhawan in Guwahati as a show of support for the two women victims in Manipur.
More than 160 people have lost their lives, and several have been injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3 when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.
