Women in India’s northeastern state of Manipur are tired of waiting for justice and so they took matters into their own hands to punish an accused rapist as they set fire to his house.
The man had allegedly dragged two tribal women onto the streets in May and later incited a mob to rape and parade them naked, police said, as ethnic and religious conflicts were raging across the state.
The assault on the women took place almost three months ago but became public only on Thursday after the video went viral on Twitter and caused widespread outrage.
The video shows the distraught women being pushed around and groped by their attackers. Even though the men’s faces are visible, only one person has been arrested so far on charges of gang rape.
This kind of inaction in the face of violence against women in India is far from rare. Many cases of violence against women—from beatings to rape, to immolations– go unreported in India. This is due to various reasons such as fear of social stigma, retaliation from perpetrators, and a general attitude that devalues women.
According to a report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), crimes against women in India have been on the rise for the past six years. The report shows a consistent year-on-year rise, except in 2020 – the year when the Covid-19 pandemic swept India and a hard lockdown forced the country to shut down for months. In 2021, India recorded the highest number of crimes against women ever. The numbers show that there is a rise in kidnappings and abduction, rapes, domestic violence, dowry deaths and assaults.
The report also shows that with more than 56,000 cases, the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which is India’s most populous with 240 million people, once again topped the list. It was followed by Rajasthan with 40,738 cases and Maharashtra with 39,526 cases.
Manipur, in north-eastern India, has been gripped by ethnic violence between the majority Meitei group and the tribal Kuki minority since May. Reports from the ground detail chilling accounts of shootings, looting and sexual assault. Rape has long been used as a weapon during conflicts. Since the spring violence has raged across India between Christians and Muslims as well.
In this latest case, the main suspect, a resident of violence-hit Manipur state, was arrested on Thursday hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the alleged sexual assault as “shameful” and promised tough action. Three others also were arrested and a police official said were tracing at least 30 others involved in the crime. But this action seemed to be a case of “too little, too late” to the women who took a more direct approach to punishing the accused rapist.
“Local women pelted stones and burnt some parts of the house belonging to the prime accused in a village,” said Hemant Pandey, a senior police official in capital city Imphal.
Protests also were planned in several parts of India by rights groups demanding justice and swift investigations.
The rage is an accumulation of frustration caused by the State’s apathy towards widespread misogyny and violence against women. Often the victim is ignored or actually blamed for having provoked it. Rapists frequently go unpunished and can rape again with impunity.
“We want to know why police failed to take swift action when they knew that women were raped and paraded naked in Manipur,” said Radhika Burman, a student in eastern city of Kolkata, one of the people who led a public demonstration.
Prime Minister Modi, who had not made any public remarks about the trouble in a state ruled by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), spoke a day after the videos showing women being molested went viral.
“Ensuring access to justice is the state’s responsibility. But in most cases, the state and administration are totally missing in the fight for justice,” says Vrinda Grover, an advocate who has represented several victims of sexual violence.
