Bengaluru: Hundreds gather in city cathedral to protest Manipur violence

Around 1,000 people, including women leaders and activists, gathered at St Francis Xavier's Cathedral in Cleveland Town to express solidarity with the women victims of violence and demand the protection of women's rights in Manipur on Sunday.

Organised by the Women's Commission, Archdiocese of Bengaluru, under the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) Commission for Women, the peace rally called on the citizens of the country to condemn violence and stand in support of women suffering atrocities in Manipur.

Human rights activists, renowned professors, and Dalit activists voiced their condemnation against the violence in Manipur.

The crowd signed a memorandum demanding for the perpetrators of the atrocities be duly punished.

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Brinda Adige, Joint secretary of Archdiocesan Women’s Commission, Sheema Mohsin, national general secretary of Welfare Party of India, and Ruth Manorama, Dalit social activist, called out the government's inaction and urged it to restore peace and provide justice to the Manipuri women immediately.

Fr Susairaj, the ecclesiastical advisor to the Commission of Women, Priya Francis, president of Catholic Women's Collective, and Dr Paul Newman, Principal of St Joseph Evening College, noted that the government has failed the people of Manipur and urged immediate action.

Kamilah Urooj, a student, Prof Harjinder Singh Bhatia, former Stage Secretary Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Bangalore, Sushma Veer, social activist, and Colin Calmiano, founder-director of Spread Your Wings, all urged people to unite and speak up against the atrocities.

Ruth Manorama, a Dalit activist, said the violence in Manipur was a state-sponsored genocide.

A professor at St Joseph's University, Paul Newman claimed Manipur was a fertile land. By eliminating people through such violence, ‘unknown hands’ are trying to sell the land to multinational companies, he added.

“European and British parliaments have discussed Manipur but our Parliament hasn’t,” he said.

“We need to take this matter to the United Nations, we need to knock on their doors,” he added.

Sheema Mohsin expressed disbelief about the government was staying silent at the "planned ethnic cleansing".

“When such violence takes place, women become the primary target. Society turns women into an instrument to portray violence,” she said.

Hundreds of Manipuri students sang together to express their love for their land and extend peace to the souls of victims who lost their lives during the violence.

The protesters signed a memorandum expressing outrage against the perpetrators who stripped, sexually assaulted, and paraded the three Kuki women and demanded that they be punished immediately.