India was stunned when the videos of two women from the Kuki-Zomi community in Manipur being paraded naked and sexually assaulted by a purported Meitei mob went viral on social media in July 2023, triggering nationwide outrage. The incident had taken place in early May last year in Churachandpur when an ethnic conflict broke out between the two communities.

Now, a chargesheet by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has highlighted the alleged complicity of Manipur Police personnel. According to the chargesheet, cops drove the victims towards the mob of around 1,000 Meiti rioters in Kangpokpi district, reported the news agency PTI.

The CBI chargesheet, filed in October 2023, has become public only now.

Manipur has been on the boil since 3 May 2023 when violence erupted between the Meiteis and the tribal Kuki communities.

Let’s take a closer look.

What happened?

As per the CBI chargesheet, a mob ransacked the village of the victims on 4 May in the Kangpokpi district, about 68 km south of Saikul police station, reported PTI.

The two female victims seen in the video were running from a mob of about 900-1,000 people armed with sophisticated weapons like AK rifles, SLR, INSAS and .303 rifles.

Three women and seven others ran into the nearby Haokhongching forest but were spotted by the mob, as per NDTV.

“Probe has revealed that out of fear, the complainant, three victims and two men, another man with his daughter, and a grand-daughter, ran into the forest. The mob noticed the hiding place of members of a family and upon seeing them started shouting ‘people are hiding here’. The members of the mob with a big axe in hand rushed towards them and threatened them saying, ‘the way you people in Churachandpur treated us (Meitei people), we would do the same thing to you’”, Indian Express cited the CBI as saying.

After bringing them to the main road, the mob separated the family members, taking one woman and her granddaughter in one direction; two women, their father and the village chief in another; and two women and two men in the other direction.

The members of the mob increased as people from a nearby village joined them and began thrashing the victims, reported NDTV.

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Police’s role

As per PTI, some members of the mob told the women to approach the police Gypsy parked on the roadside of a village.

“While approaching the police gypsy, the mob again separated the victims…Two (women) victims managed to get inside the police Gypsy. Two policemen along with a driver dressed in plain khaki uniform, were with them inside the police gypsy, and three to four policemen were outside,” the CBI said in the chargesheet, reported Indian Express.

The central probe agency said that one male victim, who also got inside the car, asked the police driver to start the vehicle and take them to a safe place. However, the driver replied: ‘There is no key’.

“They kept on begging the policemen repeatedly to help them and save a man being assaulted by the mob, but the ‘police did not help them’,” the CBI reportedly said in its chargesheet.

Moments later, the driver of the Gypsy drove and stopped the vehicle “near the violent mob of around 1,000 people, and the male victim again requested the police to start the vehicle, but he was asked to keep silent”.

A cop came and informed his colleagues that the man assaulted by the mob had “stopped breathing”. “On hearing this, the male victim told the woman victim that his father was beaten to death,” the agency said, as per Indian Express.

According to the CBI probe, the mob proceeded towards the police Gypsy and shook it, pulling out the man and two women inside. As this happened, the police personnel fled the scene, leaving the victims at the hands of the mob.

“They tore off the clothes of both the women victims and started thrashing a male victim… One of the woman victims was present at the nearby spot and witnessed the entire incident,” the CBI said in its chargesheet.

The women were later gang-raped.

The chargesheet has revealed that the rioters also tried to attack a third woman from the same family and tried to disrobe her, but they failed as she was tightly clutching her young granddaughter, as per the NDTV report.

The probe agency has filed a chargesheet against Huirem Herodash Meitei (32), Arun Khundongbam alias Nanao (31), Ningombam Tomba Singh alias Tomthin (18), Pukhrihongbam Suranjoy Meitei (24), Nameirakpam Kiram Meitei (30), and a juvenile.

They have been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including those related to gang-rape, murder, outraging the modesty of a woman, and criminal conspiracy.

The chargesheet shows no new arrests were made in the case besides the six accused nabbed by the Manipur Police after the videos went viral on social media last July.

Three other accused, who were identified by the two victims, were still on the run, The Hindu reported citing the chargesheet.

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What else does the chargesheet say?

As per The Hindu report, the CBI was waiting for the Manipur government’s sanction to prosecute the accused under Section 153A of the IPC which pertains to promoting enmity between groups on grounds of race, religion, etc.

The state government has yet to confirm whether the sanction has been granted now, the newspaper said.

“Investigation has established that the accused individuals, part of ethnic clashes between the Meiteis and Kukis, conspired with a large group of unidentified miscreants from the Meitei community to execute a series of preplanned criminal acts, including violence, arson, sexual assault, and murder with a clear intent,” the CBI said in its chargesheet, reported NDTV.

“Their deliberate actions which specifically targeted victims from the tribal community, included threats, violence and various unlawful acts, aimed at promoting enmity between different groups,” the agency added.

The Manipur Police were forced to register an FIR in the case after the horrific footage surfaced on social media last year. Later, the Supreme Court transferred this case and other similar incidents of sexual assault that happened during the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur to the CBI.

With inputs from agencies

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Did Manipur cops drive two women, who were paraded naked and sexually assaulted, to the mob?