Manipur gang rape horror: 20-year-old survivor dies waiting for justice; FIR filed in July 2023, suspects not yet identified

IMPHAL: A 20-year-old from the Kuki-Zo community, who became the unseen face of mob-fuelled sexual violence during the May 2023 ethnic rioting in Manipur, has died waiting for justice.

Eighteen when she was abducted and allegedly "handed over" to members of an armed group, the woman carried physical and psychological injuries that never healed, culminating in her death on Jan 10, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum said.

The FIR, filed two-and-a-half years ago, is still pending at Porompat police station in Imphal East. None among her alleged attackers has been even identified.

Kuki-Zo organisations, including Committee on Tribal Unity, held a candlelight vigil Saturday, demanding accountability for the woman's trauma through the 30-odd months she lived since the assault. She first reported the alleged crime to Kangpokpi police on July 21, 2023, two months after it occurred.

This was after she fled the Imphal Valley amid spiralling unrest there. The FIR states that she was abducted on May 15 that year from near an ATM booth in Imphal's New Checkon. Some women from a group involved in the ethnic clashes allowed four armed men belonging to a valley-based outfit to take her to a hilltop, where three of them allegedly took turns sexually brutalising her before dumping her in a creek.

The woman survived when an autorickshaw driver ferrying vegetables found her. The next day, she fled Imphal and sought treatment at a Kangpokpi hospital. She was referred to a hospital at Kohima in Nagaland and later to Guwahati in Assam.

Despite months of medical care, the woman continued to suffer from uterine complications and deep psychological trauma, ITLF said. The organisation termed her death "emblematic" of the atrocities faced by the community during the ethnic violence.

The Committee on Tribal Unity urged the Union govt to ensure justice was done to the young woman, saying punishing the perpetrators would "uphold the spirit of the PM's Beti Bachao vision".