Four men have been arrested in connection with the case of two women who were stripped naked, publicly paraded and allegedly gang raped in the Indian state of Manipur, in an attack that caused outrage after it was captured in a viral video.
The arrests took place on Thursday, a day after the footage of the assault prompted anger across India and was condemned by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the supreme court. The police said more arrests were expected soon.
The police faced criticism after it emerged that the attack on the women, who belong to the minority Kuki tribe, had taken place in early May. Despite a police case being filed at the time, no action was taken for more than 70 days until the video went viral and pressure was put upon the authorities to act.
One of the women in the video alleged that police had handed them over to the mob who carried out the violence, who belonged to the majority Meitei tribe.
After news of the arrests broke, a group of women in the local area – also from the Meitei tribe – set light to the home of one of the accused. Hundreds of women also gathered in the Manipur state capital on Friday to protest against the violence that had been captured in the video.
The widely circulated footage prompted Modi to make his first public comments on the unrest – after being heavily criticised for months of silence – in which he said the “entire country has been shamed” by the incident.
The video also turned public attention to the violence that members of the minority Kuki community, in particular women, have faced since the ethnic conflict broke out in Manipur in early May. More than 140 people have died in the violence, predominately those from the Kuki tribe, and 60,000 have been displaced as the state has been in essence split down ethnic lines, with the Meitei tribe controlling the valleys and the Kukis controlling territory in the hills. The Kuki tribe are now fighting for an independent state.
The women in the video, aged 21 and 42, had been part of a group fleeing after their village was set alight by a Meitei mob, numbering between 800 and 1,000 people, according to a report they filed to the police.
As they fled, they encountered another violent Meitei mob, who had encircled the women, forced them to strip, then paraded them down the road as they were molested by several men in the crowd. The two women were then thrown into a field where they alleged they were gang raped. Two Kuki men in their group were allegedly murdered by the mob.
According to accounts of activists in Manipur, this was not an isolated incident, and several Kuki women became the target of sexual assault and rape by Meitei mobs when the ethnic conflict first broke out, after fake news spread that Kukis were raping and killing Meitei women.
The authorities have been accused of turning a blind eye to some of the worst atrocities in Manipur, including beheadings and targeted assault, rape and torture of women.
The government had largely remained silent on the conflict, and a visit to the state by the home minister, Amit Shah, last month appeared to do little to ease tensions. However, after the release of the video, the supreme court demanded that the government get the situation under control in Manipur, stating “we will take action if you don’t”.
