India: Video of Womens' Mistreatment Sparks Outrage

Facts

• A video has emerged showing two women being forced to walk naked through a crowd of fully clothed men in India's northeastern state of Manipur. According to the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, the incident occurred on May 4.¹
• The Forum said the victims shown in the video, one of whom said they were "forced" to "remove our clothes" and were threatened with death if they didn't "do as told," are from the Kuki-Zo community. Both victims are now reportedly safe in a refugee camp.²
• While police say they have opened a case into a gang rape and arrested one man, parliament's session was disrupted Thursday to debate the issue and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that "no guilty will be spared." Police also said more arrests are coming.³
• The video portrays the ethnic violence seen for months in Manipur — where mobs have rampaged through villages and torched houses, leaving more than 130 people dead since May. Though the internet is largely blocked and journalists are locked out of the remote state, the video has led to a resurgence in public outrage.²
• The conflict in the state that borders Myanmar and has a population of 3.7M was sparked after the mostly Hindu Meiteis demanded they get priority over the Christian Kukis in buying land and obtaining government employment, to which the Kukis protested. Both sides have since organized armed militias, forcing 60K to flee.⁴
• On top of the forced migration, 100 people have also been killed by the fighting, prompting the president of the opposition Congress party to allege that the "Modi Govt and the BJP [have] changed democracy and the rule of law into Mobocracy by destroying the delicate social fabric of the state."¹

Sources: ¹CNN, ²Washington Post, ³BBC News, and ⁴Associated Press.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by News & Reporting. This conflict is years in the making, but it's certainly not been made better by the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party. Though Manipur is roughly equally divided between Kuki Christians and Meitei Hindus, the Hindu population has become brazen in their attacks against both Christian people and churches, targeting husbands, wives, and children. While the situation worsens, official security forces aren't even trying to help but rather have allegedly taken part in the attacks against Kukis.
• Narrative B, as provided by OpIndia. It's odd that Prime Minister Modi is receiving flack for this incident, as he hasn't encouraged nor condoned any violence against Christian Kukis or any other minority. Rather, the Prime Minister has expressed sorrow in the wake of this video and promised to get justice for the victims no matter where the crime was committed or who committed it.