Video of two naked women being harassed draws attention to tribal conflict in India’s Manipur

Issued on: 21/07/2023 – 17:11

5 min

The 26-second video, which emerged on social media July 19, shows the two women, members of the state’s minority Kuki community, being assaulted by men of the majority Meitei ethnicity. The distraught women are pushed around and groped by their attackers, and then escorted towards an empty field. According to a police complaint, one of the women, a 21-year-old, was “brutally gang-raped in broad daylight”, while the other one managed to escape.

We have decided not to include the viral video in this article due to its shocking nature.

The Meitei make up 53% of the population in Manipur, a multi-ethnic state on India’s border with China and Myanmar that has 34 different tribal communities. Under martial law since the 1970s because of frequent ethnic violence, the state is currently governed by India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The incident happened on May 4, the day after deadly ethnic riots broke out between the Meitei who are mostly Hindus, and the predominantly Christian Kuki. The violence was sparked by a controversy over affirmative action: the Kukis, who already have “scheduled tribe” status guaranteeing them quotas for government jobs and university places, were protesting against a proposal to extend the same status to the majority Meiteis. 

At least 140 people have since been killed and more than 60,000 people have been forced from their homes. Meanwhile, police armouries have been looted, hundreds of Kuki churches attacked, and more than a dozen Meitei temples ruined, and villages destroyed. 

After months of silence, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally spoke out about the violence in Manipur on July 20. He responsed to the video by saying: “My heart is filled with grief and anger. The incident in Manipur is shameful for any civil society.”

On the same day, police opened a gang-rape case, arrested four men, and said they would be making more arrests soon.

‘Women’s bodies in Manipur have been used as a site of war since the 1970s’

Our Observer, Binalakshmi Nepram, who founded the Northeast India Women Initiative for Peace, has criticised authorities for taking so long to act, despite a police complaint having been lodged just days after the incident. She told us the video serves as a stark reminder of how women’s bodies in the northeastern state are being weaponised in the conflict.

It’s not the first time Manipuri women have been sexually abused, it has happened countless times and not a single person has been punished until now. Men have complete impunity in our state. 

The gruesome rape in the video that was published this week took place in May, but it’s taken a full 78 days for any action to be taken, for any arrests to be made, and for our prime minister to speak up. This, of course, does not inspire confidence in the authorities.

Women’s bodies in Manipur have been used as a site of war since the 1970s, when the counterinsurgency began. We have a martial law which provides complete immunity to armed forces personnel who are operating in the state of Manipur. As a result, there have been various charges of armed security force personnel committed sexual violence and rape on the bodies of manipuri women. 

For example, in 2004, a woman called Thangjam Manorama was brutally gang-raped by Indian paramilitary forces. She was shot seven times in the vagina to destroy evidence of rape. The failure to assign culpability in the rape and murder case led to widespread protests in Manipur. Five days after the killing, around 30 middle-aged women protested in the streets naked. That incident, just like the recent video, shocked the country and the prime minister of India was forced to acknowledge the violence.

_{The iconic nude protest by women on July 15, 2004 against the Indian Army after Thangjam Manorama was brutally gang-raped by Indian paramilitary forces.}

I grew up in a state in which it has become normalised for men with guns to play with our lives. I hope that the bodies of our mothers, sisters and friends that have endured this pain will break through the consciousness of men, who will finally lay down their arms and start negotiating for peace. Because it is women who are paying the price for their violence.

‘The world knows about Ukraine, but the violence in Manipur is taking place behind closed doors’

Nepram also said the violence depicted in the video is emblematic of the near-civil war in the northeastern state, which “no one is talking about”.

The horrific and inhumane video has shaken up India. But brutal sexual assault and the rape of women are not the only crimes that are taking place here.

There have been beheadings, killings and many other atrocities, although videos of these incidents have not been released to the public. These countless crimes against humanity are taking place in the land of yoga, in the world’s largest democracy. 

_{Images of violence in Manipur againt people from the Meitei tribal group in a Kuki dominated area}

I have seen too much violence and many of my family members have died in this conflict. But no one is talking about it. The world knows about the conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar, but the violence in Manipur is taking place behind closed doors. The Indian government doesn’t allow foreign press or humanitarian aid agencies to come here. 

We are being silenced. The history of Manipur is not in Indian textbooks. I have been threatened many times for speaking about this conflict. Our lives are not secure at all, but some of us have to speak the truth.

‘Violence in Manipur is the result of decades of neglect, discrimination and violent extremism’

Tensions in Manipur boiled over in May when Kukis began protesting against demands from the Meiteis to be given official tribal status. But this does not entirely explain the explosive ethnic violence that has engulfed Manipur, according to Nepram.

Although the demand for inclusion of the Meitei community as a scheduled tribe was the immediate trigger, the eruption of violence in Manipur has been the result of decades of neglect, discrimination and violent extremism in the region. 

The current crisis in Manipur reflects the complex dynamics at the heart of India’s northeastern state. Manipur joined India in 1949, over the objections of many Manipuris. It has experienced secession movements, ethnic rivalries, and serious human rights violations by India security forces and the military ever since then. 

Other elements are coming into play as well and worsening the situation. The Kukis say a war on drugs is being waged by the Meitei-led government to uproot their communities. Meanwhile, illegal migration since the coup in Myanmar in 2021 has also heightened tensions. There has since been more pressure on land use from a growing population and unemployment is pushing youth towards the various militias.

Last week, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on Indian authorities to take action to stop the violence in Manipur and protect religious communities, especially Christians. India’s foreign ministry condemned the resolution, describing it as “interference” in its internal affairs.