Manipur CM Vows Exemplary Punishment for Crimes Against Women Amidst Growing Protests

Guwahati: Amid growing protests, Manipur CM N. Biren Singh ruled out the possibility of his resignation on Friday, asserting that his priority now was to restore normalcy and bring all the perpetrators of heinous crimes against women to book.

Leading a protest march at Luwangshangbam Stadium in Imphal against the horrifying assault of two women, Mr Singh also said the police have intensified search operations to nab the culprits visible in the viral video. He said: “We will not spare anyone. All legislators of the ruling BJP condemn the incident in the strongest possible terms. Will give exemplary punishment to all those involved, even go to the extent of seeking capital punishment.”

Mr Singh, facing calls for resignation, said the police action was delayed due to issues with the identification of the culprits. “There were over 6,000 FIRs even as the violence continued. The police were trying to identify the case when the video surfaced. As soon as we got hold of the video, we could identify the culprits and action was taken immediately and we arrested four persons, including the main culprit,” he said.

Though the incident took place over two months ago, it got national attention after a video of it started doing the rounds on the social media on Wednesday, prompting huge outrage.

Saying that so far four accused of heinous crime of abduction and gangrape under Nongpok Sekmai PS, Thoubal district, had been arrested, security sources said that the police have also started a probe into over 6,000 FIRs registered since May 3 in different police stations.

In a related development on Thursday, soon after the arrest of the prime accused Huirem Herodas Meitei, a group of women set the house of the prime accused on fire in his village. Herodas, 32, hailing from Pechi Awang Leikai village, is the prime accused among four people who were arrested for parading naked and sexually assaulting two women from the Kuki-Zomi community on May 4 in Thoubal district of Manipur. The identities of the other three are yet to be disclosed.

“Be it Meitei or other communities, as a woman, outraging a woman’s dignity is not acceptable. We cannot allow such a person to be in our society. It’s a shame to the entire Meitei community,” said a Meira Paibi leader in Imphal. Meira Paibis, or “women torch bearers”, are a senior women-led activist group with no rigid hierarchy, structure, or overt political leanings.

Meanwhile, a massive protest rally took place in Manipur’s Churachandpur after a horrific video of two women being paraded naked by a mob surfaced. Over a thousand people wearing black gathered at Public Ground in Churachandpur and took out a rally that ended at Peace Ground in Tuibong demanding a separate administration for Kuki tribal lands.

Braving the heavy downpour, the protesters rallied through the streets holding banners that read: “Rally for separate administration”, “Please recognise our separation from Manipur”, “Too much tribal blood has flowed, separation only solution”. They also shouted slogans such as: “We want total separation”, “Long live tribal unity” and “Biren government down down”, among others.

Since early May, two tribal groups in Manipur -- the valley-dwelling majority Meiteis and hill-dwelling Kuki-Zomis -- have been in conflict over the old Meitei demand for their inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes.