Manipur shame: Activists flagged it over a month ago to NCW along with 5 other cases
Deccan ChronicleNew Delhi: More than a month before the horrific video of two women being assaulted publicly in Manipur went viral, activists had informed the NCW about not only this case but other brutal instances of rape as well, besides incidents of kidnapping, lynching, immolation and even murder in the strife-torn state. In a letter written to NCW chief Rekha Sharma on June 12 by two activists who had visited the state and the North American Manipur Tribal Association, it was claimed that there was “numbing silence” and under-reporting of sexual and gender-based violence dimensions of the conflict and how Kuki-Zomi women unequivocally and disproportionately experienced rapes, sexual assaults, and murders by “Meitei vigilante mob”. After the video of the May 4 incident went viral on July 19, Sharma took suo-motu cognisance and claimed the NCW had reached out to Manipur authorities but did not hear back from them. The other incidents listed in the appeal are alleged harassment and abuse of students and staff from Kuki-Zomi communities at a university on May 3, harassment of two young women at an institute on May 4, the alleged rape and murder of two young women on May 5, the murder of a 45-year old woman and sexual assault of an 18-year-old on May 15.