These reports followed the emergence of a video on July 19, showing two women being stripped, abused, and paraded naked by a crowd on May 4, a day after ethnic violence broke out in the state. That video sparked condemnation across the country and in Parliament.
The Manipur International Youth Center (MIYC) has drawn attention to the gruesome death of Sorokhaibam Ibetombi. The elderly woman was found burned inside her home in Serou village of Kakching district, after the perpetrators locked all the doors from the outside.
Her late husband S Churachand Singh was a freedom fighter and was honored by APJ Abdul Kalam when he was president. “No political leader, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, bothered to express a single word of sympathy when the defenseless elderly woman was burned alive despite her husband receiving the All India Freedom Fighter Tamrapatra award,” the MIYC said.
The violence-plagued state dealt with another horrific event when an old video of a half-burned woman has resurfaced on social media.
The video, which was initially circulated on May 19 and reported on by various media outlets, shows the aftermath of the attack on Pheitaiching village in Kangpokpi district on May 6.
In the video clip, the village’s pastor, Thianna Vaiphei Sauntak, gives a harrowing account of the violence, revealing that the 45-year-old widow and mother of two was not only beaten and slit, but also burned.
“On May 7, together with the Gorkha Regiment and the Andro police, we went to recover the body. In the place we can testify that she was not only beaten and cut, but her legs, hands and head were already burned ”, the pastor is seen saying.
The victim was identified as Thiendam Vaiphei, who had lost her husband a decade ago.
The pastor described her as a good mother with strong moral character.