Kuki groups demand justice for woman who died 2 years after being gang-raped in Manipur violence

Various organizations have demanded justice for a Kuki woman from Manipur who recently died of illness allegedly linked to the trauma she suffered after being gang-raped in the first phase of ethnic violence in the state in 2023.

Manipur’s Churachandpur and Delhi-based Kuki organizations alleged that she was abducted in Imphal and gang-raped in May 2023. He, however, escaped from the kidnappers but never fully recovered from the shock and injuries and died while receiving treatment in Guwahati on January 10.

The groups also demanded separate administration for the Kukis, arguing that it was not possible for them to co-exist with the Meitei society.

At least 260 people have been killed and thousands left homeless in Manipur since May 2023 in ethnic violence between the Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo groups in the hills. The state has been under Presidential administration since February last year.

“His death is yet another painful proof of how the Kuki-Zo people have been brutally targeted,” the Kuki group Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) said in a statement. The ITLF, which held a candlelight parade in his honor in Churachandpur on Saturday evening, said the people of Kuki-Zo now had no option but to demand separate rule “for our security, dignity and survival”.

Kuki Students Organization (KSO), Delhi and NCR alleged that despite the seriousness of the crime and repeated calls by civil society organisations, no meaningful action was taken against the perpetrators.

“We categorically contend that his death should be officially recognized as resulting from violence committed against him in 2023. Any attempt to treat otherwise will amount to denial of justice and erasure of responsibility,” KSO Delhi & NCR said.

The organization appealed to the Center to expedite the process of creating a separate administration for tribals, which is “both necessary and inevitable”.

A women’s group from the Kuki tribe said the victim would be remembered not only for the injustice he suffered, but also for the resilience and courage he showed in the face of unimaginable brutality.

“For nearly three years she carried the pain that no human being should have to endure,” the Kuki-Zo Women’s Forum, Delhi and NCR, said in a statement.