New Delhi:
In a shocking charge, the CBI has alleged that Manipur Police personnel allegedly drove the two women into a crowd of around a thousand people, who stripped and paraded them before gang-raping them, in an incident that shocked the nation. The crime, which took place on May 4 last year – just a day after ethnic violence broke out between the Meiteis and the Kukis – had come to light after videos began circulating in July.
In its complaint filed in October, which came to light a few days before the anniversary of the start of the violence, the central agency also said that the gang had attacked a third woman from the same family and tried to undress her . but that failed as she held her young granddaughter tightly.
She managed to escape the clutches of the mob after the group that attacked her headed towards the first two survivors – one in her 40s and the other in her 20s – who were attacked in some rice fields.
All three women had sought help from the police personnel present at the spot but were left at the mercy of the mob, the agency said in the charge sheet.
Heavily armed
According to a report by news agency PTI, the women, one of whom was the wife of a Kargil war veteran, begged the police personnel to take them to a safe location but were told that there was “no key” for the vehicle. . They later drove them straight into the crowd and refused to proceed, the complaint said.
The CBI on October 16 filed a chargesheet against six accused in the case before the special CBI judge in Guwahati and filed a child custody case (CCL) report.
The document states that the crowd the women were fleeing was 900 to 1,000 strong and that many of its members were carrying sophisticated weapons such as AK, SLR, INSAS and .303 rifles. The mob reportedly “burned to the ground” all the houses of B Phainom women's village in Kangpokpi district after vandalizing them.
Group split up
As the village was being looted, the three women and seven others ran into the nearby Haokhongching Forest to hide from the crowd but were spotted. One group from the crowd took two men and two women, another group captured the third victim and her granddaughter, while the third took the village chief, another man and his two daughters.
The charge sheet states that one of the two women who were gang-raped and paraded naked was unwell and had to be carried on the backs of male members of the family as they went to Chakhama village, which is about four kilometers from theirs. is.
The crowd's ranks expanded as others from a nearby village joined the group and all began beating the victims. At that time, some people in the crowd told the women that a police vehicle was parked near the road and that they should go there to seek help, officials told PTI.
According to the report, the two women and a man managed to get into the vehicle, a Gypsy, which contained two police personnel and a driver while three to four personnel stood outside.
The man begged the driver to take them to a safe place, but was told “there was no key”. Later, the driver drove the gypsy straight to the crowd and stopped him in front of them. The victims pleaded with police personnel to take them to safety, but to no avail.
Man killed in vehicle
The violent mob headed towards the vehicle and the police personnel fled. By then, the rioters had already killed the Gypsy man's father and he was also later beaten to death, the CBI charge sheet said. Their bodies were thrown onto a dry riverbed near the village.
The two survivors were pulled from the gypsy, stripped naked and paraded naked. They were later gang raped. The third woman ran to another village “crying inconsolably” and was reunited with her family the next day.
The CBI has registered a case against Huirem Herodas Meitei, Arun Kungongbam, Ningombam Tomba Singh, Yumlemban Jiban Singh, Pukrihongbam Surunjoy Meiti and Nameirakpam Kiran Meiti and a case has been registered against a minor.
“Investigations have revealed that the accused persons, who were part of ethnic clashes between the Meiteis and Kukis, conspired with a large group of unidentified miscreants from the Meitei community to carry out a series of pre-planned criminal acts including violence, arson , assault and murder. with a clear intention,” the charge sheet said.
“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,” it added.
The suspects have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those relating to gang rape, murder, outraging the modesty of a woman and criminal conspiracy, the CBI said.