The Manipur Police on Thursday said a total of four people have been arrested in the case of women being paraded naked and sexually assaulted by a mob in B Phainom village on May 4. “Four main accused arrested in the Viral Video Case : 03 (three) more main accused of the heinous crime of abduction and gangrape under Nongpok Sekmai PS, Thoubal District have been arrested today. So total 04 (four) persons have been arrested till now”, the Manipur Police tweet read.
Earlier, chief minister Biren Singh announced that two people had been arrested in the case. “We will not spare anyone. All the legislators of the ruling BJP condemn the incident in the strongest possible terms. Will give exemplary punishment to all those involved, even go to the extent of seeking capital punishment”, he said.
Earlier in the day, Heirum Hera Das, a resident of Thoubal, was the first accused to be arrested by the police in the case. The Manipur Police had said more arrests will be made in the next few hours, adding that sections of rape and murder had already been added in the FIR which was filed.
#WATCH | Two people including the main culprit arrested, says Manipur CM N Biren Singh on viral video of women paraded naked pic.twitter.com/eWxQIyyq1V
As per the FIR, a mob of 800-1,000 armed miscreants attacked the village, vandalising and looting the homes before torching them. A family of five people had fled the village to save their lives and ran into a forest. They were rescued by a police team. However, they were blocked by a mob which took the five people away from the cops.
According to FIR, the mob killed a 56-year-old man from the group of five before turning to the three women. The FIR stated that two of them were disrobed and paraded naked, while the 21-year-old woman was allegedly gangraped. Her 19-year-old brother was murdered for trying to save her sister. The three women managed to escape with the help of locals, the FIR stated.
As per the FIR, the case was not reported at that time due to ‘communal tension’ in the state. It added that the mob hailed from the dominant Meitei community.
More than 150 people have died and over 50,000 injured in the ethnic violence in Manipur. The clashes erupted on May 3 in Churachandpur after Kuki community called for protests against a proposal to grant scheduled tribe status to the Meitei community.
