'Thwarted mob once, could not hold our defence': Manipur victims' kin recounts horror

As the shocking video from Manipur of two helpless tribal women being paraded naked and molested by a mob at a village has infuriated the entire nation, the family of the victims explained the that took place in their village.

One of the members of the victim's family during an interview with a YouTube channel said that they managed to thwart the mob a day earlier before the barbaric incident took place but could not hold their own.

Speaking about the horrifying incident, the woman said, "The first village to be burnt in the area was B.Phainom Village, where our house was the first to be burnt. We managed to thwart them the first time when they gathered and came to burn our village. But as a result, we started relocating ourselves and part of our belongings to a different place in the adjoining hills."

She added, "There the Meities who came to burn our village caught us along with the deceased father and son duo, one of my younger sisters, the village chief, and a few other villagers."   

FIR lodged on May 18

On May 4, 2023, the incident took place and the complaint was then lodged by the village chief on the matter as an FIR on May 18. 

As per the information, the unknown miscreants, about 900 to 1000 in numbers suspected to be members of Meitei organisations arrived at the village with rifles-like weapons and looted all the property, and vandalised houses leaving villagers homeless.
Scared by the mob, five villagers (two men and three women) ran and entered a forest and were rescued by police, however, later the mob snatched the five villagers from police custody around two kilometres away from Nongpok Sukmai Police Station.

There, the mob killed one of the men and the three other women were asked to strip naked in front of everyone. One of the women was also brutally gangraped. When the younger brother tried to save his sister's modesty, he was murdered in cold blood.

Later, all three women managed to escape with the help of some people who were known to them. 

First arrest in Manipur horror case

Seventy-seven days following the incident, the Manipur police said that they have made the first arrest in the horrifying matter. The accused has been identified as Huirem Herodas, 32. The man was seen in the video wearing a green t-shirt. Police have stated that the search is still on to find the rest of the accused persons. 

Manipur CM and Governor express their anger

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has assured that his government would take stringent action against all the culprits and could consider capital punishment too. 

Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey said she has asked the state police chief why there was a delay in taking action by the cops in the matter and has asked for strict action against police officials who were responsible for the delay.