2023-07-20 15:13:00
A video showing two women forced to walk naked through a crowd of men in India has sparked a wave of outrage in the country.
Police say they opened a gang rape case and arrested a man. He added that others will be detained soon.
On Thursday, the parliament session in Delhi was adjourned as lawmakers demanded a debate on the issue.
Prime Minister Narendra also said that the incident “was an embarrassment to India” and that “no guilty shall be forgiven.”
“I assure the nation that the weight of the law will fall with all its might. What happened to the women of the Manipur region will never be forgiven,” he said, finally breaking his silence about what happened in this northwestern state.
India’s Chief Justice DY Chandrachud also expressed concern over the attack, saying the Supreme Court was “deeply disturbed by the video” and stated that “we will take action if [el gobierno] it doesn’t.”
The Indian state of Manipur is located in the northeast of the countryEPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
The police say the assault on the women took place on May 4but made national headlines Thursday after the video began going viral on social media.
The federal government has asked all social media companies to Please remove the video from your platforms.
an ethnic conflict
At least 130 people have died and 60,000 have been displaced since ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities began in May in Manipur.
The video of the two women was widely shared on social media on Wednesday.
shows them being dragged and groped by a mob of men who then push them into a field.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) said in a statement that the atrocities were committed in a village in Kangpokpi district against women from the Kuki-Zo tribal community.
He also alleged that the women had been gang raped.
Tensions between the Meitei ethnic group (predominantly Hindu) and the hill tribal communities (mostly Christian) have been raging for monthsEPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
“The body of women has become a battlefield”
Por Geeta Pandey, BBC News, Delhi
It is well known that women’s bodies often become a battlefield during riots and conflicts, and that rape and sexual assault are used as an instrument of violence to punish them.
The sexual assault of Kuki women in Manipur is the latest example.
The images showing the women crying and begging their attackers to show some mercy are quite disturbing.
The fact that the first arrest has been made only now, more than two months after the attack was reported to the police, it does not inspire confidence in the authorities, especially as many of the men are clearly identifiable in the footage.
But the outrage that followed the video’s appearance in India has highlighted the horrible crime.
It also raises questions about the state’s failure to support victims, and ultimately forced Modi to make a statement on the ethnic violence that is tearing Manipur apart.
To restore some kind of confidence in Manipur, especially among the Kuki minority communitythe authorities are now under pressure to act quickly against the criminals and bring justice for the women.
People across the country feel that this shouldn’t be happening in modern India.
There have been several demonstrations in response to the videoGETTY IMAGES
“Group rape of women It happened after the village was burned down and two men, one middle-aged and one teenager, were beaten to death by the crowd,” ITLF said.
The police said that the incident took place on may 4 and that a case of kidnapping, gang rape and murder had been registered in the Thoubal district.
The assault has been condemned by politicians from across the spectrum.
Federal Minister Smriti Irani called it “frankly inhumane”.
Several opposition leaders also criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party government for not doing enough to quell violence in the state.
Congress party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadhra said the “images of sexual violence against women of Manipur are heartbreaking.”
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also weighed in. “This kind of heinous act cannot be tolerated in Indian society,” he said.
By Cherylann Mollan