Fake news of rape triggered the mob to parade two tribal women naked in Manipur on May 4, sources told India Today on Thursday. A video of May 4 went viral on Wednesday, in which two women can be seen being paraded naked and molested by a mob in the Kangpokpi district of Manipur. The horrific incident happened just a day after violent clashes erupted between the majority Meiteis and tribal Kukis. As the video of that incident surfaced late Wednesday, the police swung into action and arrested four people, including the main culprit. And the hunt is on for more involved in the case.
Also read: Manipur woman, who was paraded naked, makes stunning claim: ‘Police left us with those men’
However, India Today reported that it was fake news that led to the terrifying incident, and triggered the mob to assault the two women. The news of rape in Delhi was spread on social media like that of rape in Manipur, sources told India Today. Fake news was peddled that a woman of a particular community in Manipur was raped. A picture of a woman wrapped in a plastic sheet was circulated that claimed to be of a Manipur woman. However, it was later found out that the said rape took place in Delhi. But that fake news triggered the mob to abduct a group of five people in Kangpokpi.
According to the police complaint, an estimated 800 to 1,000 people from the Meitie community stormed B Phainom village, causing widespread destruction and loot. They burnt down homes and vandalised properties. During the chaos, five villagers, including two men and three women, managed to escape to the safety of the nearby forest.
They were later rescued by the Nongpok Sekmai Police team, but while being taken to the police station, the mob kidnapped them. One of the men was killed immediately and the three women were forced to strip naked, according to the FIR. One of the women, aged 21, was gang-raped and when her brother attempted to intervene, he was killed, India Today reported.
Earlier in the day, The Indian Express reported that a victim claimed that the police handed them over to the mob. A police complaint was filed about the horrific incident on May 18. In that complaint, the victims alleged that the younger woman, who is in her 20s, was “brutally gang raped in broad daylight”.
In the complaint, they said that they had fled to a forest for shelter after their village was attacked but they were later rescued by the Thoubal police. They were being taken to the police station but were stopped on the way by a mob, as per the complaint.
The younger woman claimed that the police left them on the road with the mob. “The police picked us up from near home and took us a little away from the village, and left us on the road with the mob. We were given to them by police,” she was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
