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25-07-2023
WASHINGTON/ NEW DELHI: The United States said Sunday it was deeply concerned by reports of viral videos showing two women paraded naked in India’s northeastern state of Manipur, a sexual assault case that enraged the country.
The assault, in which a mob allegedly raped and paraded the naked women, took place over two months ago, but it captured national and global attention as the video went viral on social media in the past week. Police have made some arrests.
A US State Department spokesperson called the incident “brutal” and “terrible” and said the United States conveyed its sympathies to the victims.
The assault was reported by the victims aged 21 and 19 in May during intense ethnic clashes between the tribal Kuki people and the majority ethnic Meitei over potential changes to economic benefits given to the Kuki.
The trouble was quelled after New Delhi rushed thousands of paramilitary and army troops to the state of 3.2 million people. But sporadic violence and killings resumed soon afterwards, and the state has remained tense since.
At least 125 people have been killed and more than 40,000 have fled their homes since the violence erupted in Manipur.
The United States encouraged a peaceful and inclusive resolution to the Manipur violence and urged authorities to respond to humanitarian needs while protecting all groups, homes and places of worship, the State Department spokesperson said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday condemned the assault as “shameful” and promised tough action.
Gender trumped tribe for a group of furious Indian mothers who torched the homes of two men from their own community who were accused of abusing women in a video that sparked outrage.
At least 120 people have been killed during months of ethnic conflict between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki in India’s troubled northeastern state of Manipur.
The women from the Meitei community decided to show their anger after the humiliating video surfaced on Wednesday, which reportedly shows two Kuki women being forced to strip naked and then jeered at and harassed by Meitei men in May.
Police arrested four suspects on Thursday but, on the same day, a powerful group of Meitei women known as the “Meira Paibis”, or the Mothers of Manipur, set out to burn the homes of two of the accused. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
