C V Aravind feels that the outrage in the strife-torn state should not be looked at merely as a one-off crime but has all the trappings of a larger game being played out by influential classes and politicians.
For well over two months now Manipur has been witnessing violent clashes between two communities, Meite and Kuki, over a claim of the former for 50% reservation in public jobs and college admissions. The state administration has been making futile attempts to quell the discontent. A new dimension was added to the fluid situation when a viral video surfaced in the media which depicted two women without a stitch on their bodies being dragged along a street by a group of men who continued to touch them inappropriately.
According to reports one of the women was later gang-raped and her brother was killed by the hoodlums for resisting the assault on his sister. The video of the incident which happened on the 4th of May went viral on 19th of July and the public outrage was such that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on national television that the law would act with full might and firmness against the accused. Manipur CM Biren Singh raised eyebrows by confessing that he had come to know of the incident only after the video clip went viral. The ruling BJP at the Centre sought to deflect attention by citing similar incidents in states ruled by the opposition.
The most striking feature of the horrific video was the perpetrators went about their business, totally bold and brazen, least bothered about the law catching up with them. The crime committed in broad daylight was filmed allegedly at the instance of the criminals themselves; and with a clampdown that has seen a number of them being arrested the chickens have come home to roost.
Ironically the humiliation of the women took place just one kilometer away from the Nongpik Sekmai police station. And just for the record, this was no ordinary police station. It had been honoured as the ‘Best Police Station’ in the country. One wondered if the cops manning the station were off duty on that day or had assigned with VVIP protection. Agreed the mob frenzy was too tough to handle but one expected the villagers to have stepped in and stopped them in their tracks. That did not happen and the women were left to the marauders who were out to wreak revenge on the Kuki community. The women turned out to be vulnerable targets but they were also pawns in a larger game that was being played out by influential classes and politicians.
The central government and the state government however were jolted out of their reverie after they received a strong rap on the knuckles when a bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India, Justice D Y Chandrachud took suo motu cognizance of the incident and the viral video and in an order that minced no words commanded the governments to act immediately or to leave it to the apex court to take charge. It was this reprimand and the outrage all over the country that prompted the state government to arrest a few of the perpetrators though the majority are still at large. The Manipur incident which it is rumoured has also been replicated in Mamata Banerjee ruled West Bengal is a blot on the country and a reminder that forces inimical to the nation are very much active. Unless exemplary punishment is meted out to the guilty such incidents might only increase with every passing day.
C.V. Aravind is a Bangalore-based freelance journalist.