Manipur Police arrested the fifth accused in connection with the viral video that surfaced on July 19 showing two women being paraded naked by a mob in the strife-torn northeast state, the cops said on Saturday. So far, a total of five accused have been arrested in the viral video case.
The fifth accused has been identified as a 19-year-old, police said. “Another arrest has been made in the Manipur viral video case. A total of five main accused have been arrested so far,” police tweeted.
The four who were earlier nabbed for disrobing and parading two women in Manipur on May 4 were remanded to 11-day police custody on Friday, police said. The arrests were made on Thursday, a day after the 26-second video surfaced on July 19.
Hours after the arrest of the key accused in the Manipur video case, his house was torched on Thursday. Police said that he was seen prominently directing the mob at B.Phainom village of Kangpokpi district in the video.
Two Kuki women were paraded naked by a mob on May 4 in the Thoubal district of Manipur and subsequently gang-raped. Almost two months after the incident, the video of the incident went viral on social media, triggering anger across the country and a sharp comment by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Reportedly, the incident occurred soon after clashes in Churachandpur where the Kuki community had protested against a proposal to grant scheduled tribe status to the dominant Meitei community.
Manipur Police later took suo moto cognizance of the video on July 19 and informed that a case had been registered on charges of abduction, gang rape, and murder at the Nongpok Sekmai police station in the Thoubal district.
The FIR filed in this case, a copy of which has been seen by PTI, revealed the tale of mayhem that occurred before the abduction and shameful behavior 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.
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 organized in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meiteis account for about 53 percent 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.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Updated: 22 Jul 2023, 02:05 PM IST
