By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
NEW DELHI (Worthy News) - India’s prime minister on Thursday condemned the reported sexual assault of two Christian women by Hindu men in northeast India and vowed to protect the “daughters of Manipur” state.
Narendra Modi spoke after outrage over the May 4 attack, which only became publicly known this week as video footage about the violence was released online on social media.
The violence unfolded in Manipur, a remote northeastern state, as ethnic clashes began in its Kangpokpi district, according to a police complaint filed by a family member of one of the victims.
Video seen by Worthy News showed women belonging to the mainly Christian Kuki-Zo hill tribe being paraded naked and groped by young men of the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority. Christians said, “800-1,000 Meiti men” escorted the women through a remote area.
In the video, at least one man can be seen slapping one of the women while he and another man sexually assaulted her. The women were crying, trying to cover themselves, as some sticks-carrying men led them into a field.
At least one of the women, aged 21, was gang raped, according to the first information report (FIR) filed by the survivors. The police complaint says the other woman was 42.
The perpetrators who gang-raped one of the women also killed her brother as he tried to protect her, according to allegations made in the police complaint.
‘SHAMEFUL INCIDENT’
“This incident of Manipur which has come to light, for any civilized society, it’s a shameful incident,” Prime Minister Modi told Parliament on Thursday. It was, he added, an “insult” that “is of the entire nation.”
The sexual assault symbolized the brutality of the underreported ethnic clashes in Manipur, where authorities restricted internet access. “They were at the mercy of the violent mob,” said Lian Mung, an activist assisting the victims.
“Our team met them in May,” Mung said in published remarks. “They told us, ‘We were forced to strip naked and parade or else they would have killed us.’”
Pleas for help from the police went unanswered, one of the victims told local news media.
The incident in Manipur, governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), followed deadly riots between the mainly Hindu Meitei and predominantly Christian Kuki tribes.
Tensions between the two groups reportedly boiled over in early May when a student-led group, mostly Kuki-Zo members, marched in protest of a court ruling in favor of the Hindu Meiteis.
They had won a special status that would allow them to buy land in the hills putting further pressure on the mainly Christians living there and receiving sn allotment of government jobs.
ARMED CLASHES
Armed clashes ensued, and police armories were raided, sources said. Within two days, more than 50 people were reported dead.
Since then, the death toll has risen to at least 130 people – most of them Christian Kuki-Zo, data showed. More than 60,000 people have fled to relief camps, as 4,400 homes were destroyed and 357 churches burned to the ground, according to Christian sources.
The Meiteis, comprising more than half of Manipur’s 3.5 million population, mainly live in the capital Imphal and the prosperous valley around it. The Christian Kuki-Zo and Naga tribes live in the surrounding hill districts.
Even before the details of the sexual assault against the Kuki-Zo women emerged, the European Parliament called the violence a result of “divisive policies promoting Hindu majoritarianism.”
Modi’s Hindu nationalist government said that statement was an “unacceptable interference” in India’s internal affairs.
The debate about the sexual assault against the two Christian women comes amid broader concerns about sexual violence in the Hindu-majority nation.
The Times of India newspaper reported over the weekend that two schoolgirls, aged 17 and 19, were confined and sexually assaulted by four schoolmates, including the son of a prominent Hindu politician in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh state. One of the girls was gang raped while her sister was molested, the paper said, citing police.
The gang rape survivor attempted suicide but was rescued by family members in a case that led to public outcry, The Times of India reported. Modi’s words on Thursday were meant to calm critics expressing concerns about when and if all suspects of these crimes will be detained.