Women in India’s northeastern state of Manipur have attacked the house of the main suspect in a sexual assault case that has enraged the nation, police said.
The person allegedly dragged two tribal women onto the streets in May and later incited
content warning sexual assault
a mob to rape and parade them naked
police said on Friday, as ethnic clashes between the mostly Hindu Meitei and mainly Christian Kuki-Zo communities engulfed the remote state.
The sexual assault took place over two months ago but it captured national attention after a short video went viral on social media earlier this week.
The main suspect, identified as Khuirem Herodas, a Meitei, was arrested on Thursday hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, breaking his nearly 80-day silence on Manipur violence, condemned the alleged sexual assault as “shameful” and promised tough action.
Three others also were arrested and a police official said were tracing at least 30 others involved in the crime.
“Local women pelted stones and burnt some parts of the house belonging to the prime accused in a village,” said Hemant Pandey, a senior police official in the state capital Imphal.
“We request women to protest peacefully as there is intense unease. We understand their rage,” he said.
Protests were planned in several parts of India by rights groups demanding justice and swift investigations into the latest incident to raise questions about the safety of women in the country.
The sexual assault was reported by the victims in May after ethnic clashes began in Manipur.
The fighting was triggered by a court order that the government should consider extending special benefits enjoyed by the tribal Kuki-Zo people to the majority Meitei population as well.
At least 130 people have been killed and more than 50,000 have fled their homes since the violence erupted. Homes and churches in dozens of villages have been torched.
The Kuki-Zo community is protesting Meitei demands for reserved public job quotas and college admissions as a form of affirmative action, stoking long-held fears that they might also be allowed to acquire land in areas currently reserved for tribal groups.
“We want to know why police failed to take swift action when they knew that women were raped and paraded naked in Manipur,” said Radhika Burman, a student in the eastern city of Kolkata who is set to lead a public demonstration on Thursday.
Modi, who had not made any public remarks about the trouble in a state ruled by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), spoke a day after the videos showing women being assaulted went viral.
Also on Thursday, India’s Supreme Court warned Modi’s government that if it does not act, “we will”.
Opposition MPs who have submitted notices in both houses of the parliament to discuss the violence in Manipur stalled the proceedings on Friday.
“Manipur needs complete attention and we demand the prime minister make an elaborate statement in the parliament,” said Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the opposition Congress party.
If the state does not protect them, they may as well become the state.
The state benefits from ethnic violence. Because it polarizes voters and then they vote on religious lines only.
Taking matters into their own hand.
Which isn’t really a good thing because it sets a dangerous precedent to just resort to mob justice/violence whenever there’s doubt cast on anyone. Too many innocent lives have been lost in the history of the world because they were victims of mob mentality.
I’m saying this as an Indian person.
As an Indian person, you definitely also know that Indian officials are highly corrupted! It’s something world-famous (or infamous?)
Agreed, the corruption is laughable. But the best way to go about it is with peaceful protests. Burning down a suspected person’s house…I can’t agree with that line of thinking. Taking justice into your own hands isn’t a good way for a civilized society to behave. It’s really tough, but mob justice has killed innocent people all throughout history. I will never support it.
Ask the rape victims if they live in a civilised society. If a corrupt society refuses to give people justice then they have no option but to take matters into their own hands.
And ask all the innocent people killed by vigilante justice and mob justice throughout history if it actually achieved true justice.
What can you do if those in power can only do ‘condemnation’ ~2 months after the crime?
I’m not necessarily condoning this act, but throughout the history of human society, peaceful protest has rarely brought about meaningful change.
Would aiming this rage at a corrupted official who did nothing change that?
Peaceful protests achieve fucking nothing.
Peaceful protests achieve fucking nothing.
Peaceful protests have been pretty successful in India. Ever heard of Mahatma Gandhi?
A preferable alternative to the armed resistance and conflict already ongoing.
There can be no peaceful outcome without the threat of force if demands are not met.
There can be no peaceful outcome without the threat of force if demands are not met
History proves you wrong, though. Civil disobedience has worked in the past; it will work in the future. Violence and the threat of violence feeds a vicious circle where nobody wins.
Modi is a piece of shit who uses stochastic terrorism to promote mob justice and violence against the minority Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and Buddhist communities.
Agreed entirely.
Neem ka patta kadwa hai, Narendra Modi bhadwa hai.
It’s better than nothing :/ Until a better form of resolution exists, the unrest is heavily justified.
I think the best course of action is peaceful protests and making the issue known worldwide, even more so than already.
Burning down the house of a suspect isn’t the right thing to do. If by chance they kill an innocent person, are these people really going to go to take responsibility for it?
Yes and this is the exact reason why vigilance is absolutely shameful.
If you don’t respect the rights of whomever you accuse and give them a fair opportunity to defend himself, you are not better than them, as you too would be a criminal. History shows that.
When the courts are corrupt you need new courts, but you still need them, you can’t just skip the law. That’s how countries fall apart.
When the government refuse to take action, the people will. You want to stop mob violence, you get police to handle matters better.
The women in your country are standing up for themselves because the men apparently won’t.
Action is always better than inaction. Them doing this is miles better than letting the status quo continue due to a lazy or corrupt police/state.
I heavily disagree that action is always better than inaction. This is how wars are started. The system sucks but peaceful protests are the way to do enact change as a civilized society. If by some chance these people kill an innocent person, they’re not going to take responsibility for it.
Uhm. Peaceful protests are also a form of action. Inaction is in the name, it’s not doing anything.
I’m not saying this is the best way about it, but it’s a good way to force change compared to sitting back and waiting.
Peaceful protests have rarely ever worked historically innmy opinion.
Peaceful protest juxtaposed with violent protests and mass civil disobedience has historically been effective.
I.E mlk vs malcom x
Or in this situation ghandi vs most of the other leaders.
Who burnt parts of the country down every time ghandi was arrested / ignored
“We must peacefully protest” results in nothing
We must peacefully protest - aka - we must not anger our overlords to much lest they be truly angry with us.
is your name a reference to warframe
Yes it is!
Woah, I didn’t think that my comment would spark a discussion.
Not that I encourage violence, but I read the headline once and missed “house of” and was a bit disappointed when I re-read it.
