Extreme attacks during Manipur's ethnic conflicts that may shake conscience

The video showing two Kuki women sexually harassed allegedly by a mob belonging to the Meitei community is not the only shocking incident witnessed during the ethnic clashes in Manipur. The nearly three-month-long violence saw several gruesome attacks that left many shell-shocked and outraged.

From an attack in which a woman and her son were burnt alive inside an ambulance to a beheading of a Kuki youth and public display of his severed head on a bamboo fence and burning alive of an 80-year-old Meitei woman--the violence in the Northeastern state raised questions about the brutality and the extreme means adopted by miscreants belonging to both these communities, engaged in the ethnic clash.

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DH lists five such incidents which might invite attention of the agencies probing the cases pertaining to violence in Manipur since May 3.

Woman, son burnt alive inside ambulance:
A Meitei woman married to a Kuki man, her seven-year-old injured son and a relative were burnt alive inside an ambulance on June 6 in Meitei-dominated Imphal West district. The ambulance, which was carrying the injured child, was allegedly set on fire by Meitei miscreants. The child was injured in a firing incident in Kuki-majority Kangpokpi district and was being rushed to a hospital in Imphal. Police personnel, who reached the spot hours later, could only find bones of the victims. The incident took place in an area under Iroisemba police station.

80-year-old Meitei women burnt alive:
Miscreants allegedly belonging to Kuki community locked the house of a 80-year-old Meitei woman and set it on fire at Serou village in Kakching district on May 28. The victim was the wife of S. Churachand Meitei, a freedom fighter, who died earlier. The woman stayed in the violence-hit village as she could not run but asked her son to flee. A case was registered at Serou police station, sources said.

Kuki youth beheaded:
Meitei miscreants allegedly beheaded a Kuki youth, identified as David Hmar and displayed his severed head on a village fence in Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district on July 3. The headless body was dumped in a house. The youth was killed in a retaliatory attack, which was carried out after a "village volunteer" belonging to the Meitei community was allegedly killed by Kuki insurgents in neighbouring Bishnupur district.

Mentally ill woman shot dead:
A mentally ill Kuki woman, who did not leave Meitei-dominated Imphal despite the tension, was shot dead near a school on July 6 in Imphal. Police said two youths brought the lady in a vehicle and shot her from close range at around 8.40am. A Kuki organisation said the lady was roaming around as she was mentally ill.

Woman killed, face disfigured:
A middle-aged woman belonging to the Maring Naga community was shot dead inside her residence in Meitei-majority Imphal East district on July 15. The lady's body was found disfigured, police said.

When asked about the nature of the violence, human rights activist Suhas Chakma told DH that although the sexual harassment of the two Kuki women by a mob on May 4 crossed limits of barbarity, the gruesome attacks suggested shrinking faith on rule of law and international humanitarian law as well. Chakma, who heads Rights and Risk Analysis Group, a New Delhi-based think tank, also blamed the Centre's inaction for the violence taking extreme form. Organisations belonging to both the Kuki and Meiteis, meanwhile, started talking about the incidents in order to highlight the severity of hatred and violence shown towards each other during Manipur's worst phase of conflict.