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It took a shocking video at least Two women from the Koki-Zumi community are paraded naked and sexually assaulted by a rally in Manipur for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence over the nearly three-month-old ethnic violence in the state. Thursday, Prime Minister Modi said “The incident in Manipur is disgraceful to any civilized nation. It has disgraced the entire country” and he promised that the culprit would not be spared. The prime minister’s strong words will now be tested by action on the ground. The Chief Justice of India, D. Y. Chandrachod, expressed his “deep concern” and said “it is time for the government to really step in and take action as this is simply unacceptable”. The committee described the incident as “the most serious constitutional and human rights abuse,” and also said, “We will take action if nothing happens on the ground.” We welcome the Supreme Court’s expression of anguish and outrage.
Manipur caught fire in early May, when mob violence broke out between the Imphal Valley, which is dominated by the numerically and politically powerful Meitei community, and the minority Kuki-Zomi tribes, who mostly live in the hills around the state capital. Since then, more than a hundred people have died and property, including a large number of churches, has been destroyed. Thousands have had to flee their homes and many are still living in relief camps in Manipur and neighboring Mizoram. The state administration, which is seen as biased towards the Meiteis, has done little to address this perception. The incident in the video that has now sparked a firestorm is dated May 4. Zero FIR was recorded on May 18th. It is appalling that there has been no arrest in over two months – Prime Minister Birn Singh announced Thursday afternoon that the main perpetrator had been arrested by the police at 1.30am. Quite simply, CM Singh and his government do not inspire confidence in this difficult moment, and seem incapable of leadership. Home Minister Amit Shah, who toured the state in May, should know this. Most of the opposition parties who attended the all-party meeting convened by the Center in Delhi on 24 June also demanded the replacement of CM Singh.
In his remarks, CJI Chandrachud also said that “Using women as a tool in a societal conflict zone to bring about violence against women is deeply and deeply troubling…”. It is well documented that women bear the brunt of the violence during sectarian and ethnic riots and that perpetrators are rarely brought to justice. In Manipur, violence against women has been a particularly resonant issue since the prominent grassroots civil rights movement, Mera Baibi, in the 1970s. It was that extreme protest by 12 Manipuri women, who stripped naked and protested at Kangla Fort in Imphal, that forced the administration to address human rights abuses committed by state forces during the height of the rebellion. Irom Chanu Sharmila has been on hunger strike for 16 years In order to abolish the Sudanese Armed Forces Act, he contributed to changing the discourse on insurrection in the country. However, although women have led the political discourse on rights, they are still prime targets for the masses in times of conflict. Peace in Manipur will require the slow and arduous building of a new political imagination that is broad and sensitive to the rights of women and all ethnic groups. For that to happen, the government needs to win the public’s trust, to signal that it is on the side of the law, not the side of the accused. And that in these divided times, the only side will be the Constitution. For this process to begin, the prime minister must go first. It does not inspire confidence, it only suggests complicity and incompetence.
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