Kuki groups object gallantry award to CRPF officer who led operation killing 10 'armed' Hmar persons in Manipur

Guwahati: Kuki organisations in conflict-hit Manipur on Monday protested the Centre's decision bestowing a gallantry medal to a CRPF officer, who had led an operation in November 2024, in which at least 10 "armed persons" belonging to Hmar tribe were killed.

The Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) and Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR), two influential organisations stated that the award was an endorsement to "extrajudicial killings" of the "villager volunteers who tried to defend" the Hmar-Kuki villagers in Jiribam against possible attack by "armed miscreants" of the Meitei community. Hmar-Kuki and Zo communities share ethnic relations.

The reaction came on a day Vipin Wilson, an assistant commandant of the CRPF, was given the Shaurya Chakra on the Republic Day, in recognition of the operation against "armed persons" in Jiribam on November 11, 2024.

After the operation, the security forces had claimed that the 10 were killed after they attacked a CRPF camp following the killing of a woman teacher belonging to the Hmar community who was killed allegedly by the Meitei miscreants.

But the ITLF on Monday said, "There was no cause for the village volunteers to attack a CRPF post, as alleged by authorities after the killing. The men were a ragtag bunch of mostly daily-wagers from different villages, who volunteered to protect their people, not trained militants as alleged by the police."

Demanding revocation of the gallantry award, KOHUR said, "By conferring a gallantry award for this act on Republic Day, the government of India commits a profound betrayal of constitutional values and demonstrates contempt for the lives of Kuki-Zo people."

The organisation demanded an independent investigation into the incident under the supervision of the Supreme Court, with participation from credible human rights observers.