After a video of two women being paraded naked by a group of men in Manipur surfaced online sending shockwaves across the nation, one of the victims said that they had been "left to the mob by the police".
"The police were there with the mob which was attacking our village. The police picked us up from near home, took us a little away from the village and left us on the road with the mob. We were given to them by police," one of the victims told The Indian Express.
In the video, two women, one in her 20s and the other in her 40s, from one of the warring communities were seen being paraded naked by a group of men.
The victims in their complaint filed on May 18 reportedly said that the younger woman was "brutally gang raped in broad daylight".
According to the FIR, an armed mob, nearly a thousand strong, had attacked a village in Kangpokpi district of Manipur and torched, looted houses, killed and raped wantonly before abducting two women whose forced naked parade caught on video outraged the entire nation.
The FIR filed in this case on June 21, a copy of which has been seen by PTI, revealed the tale of mayhem which occurred before the abduction and shameful behaviour with tribal women, a video of which has now formed the basis of raids and arrests of people connected with the incident.
The FIR claimed that one person was killed by the mob as he tried to protect his sister from being raped on May 4 before the two were paraded naked and molested in front of others.
The police arrested four people in connection with parading the women naked and molesting them a day after a video showing their humiliation surfaced on July 19.
The arrests were made a day after the video surfaced, the complaint in this connection was lodged around a month ago – June 21 – at Saikul police station in Kangpokpi district.
Angry local people attacked the house of one of the four accused at Pechi Awang in Thoubal district, ransacked it and set it afire on Thursday night, police said.
More than 160 people have lost their lives, and several have been injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3 when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.