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The prime minister of India has finally broken his silence on the Manipur violence nearly three months after the gory ethnic unrest began; the Biren Singh government has finally said that an investigation is underway on an inhuman act; the Manipur police is said to have finally arrested a few people, out of dozens seen in a horrifying video clip. It took a sickening video of a barbaric mob sexually assaulting and parading two women from the Kuki-Zo community naked for people in power and law enforcing agency to speak up. It’s too little, too late. The particular incident happened on May 4 and an FIR on the same was reportedly lodged on May 18. And this is not an isolated case. Where were the state government and the police all these days? Would the state government have ever spoken about it, forget about taking action, if not for the uproar from the enraged public? Would the state police, which have been accused of colluding with the majority Meitei community against the Kukis, have made the arrest if the video did not surface on social media? Was Home Minister Amit Shah, who toured the state after the violence started, aware of it? Where was the state media when the ghastly incident took place? Where is the public conscience? There are more questions than answers.
Sadly, the video clip that has sparked outrage and shaken the conscience of the country could be only the tip of the iceberg. We have to brace ourselves for gross violent videos and graphic visuals, including mutilated bodies, bombarding social media platforms once internet ban is lifted in the state, as brutality knows no bounds in this conflict. The outpouring uproar and condemnation from the lawmakers cutting across party lines should be translated into action and a solution to the ongoing crisis has to be arrived at before it goes out of hand again. The state government is already paying a huge price for allowing the mob to take the law into their own hands. Hiding of information related to atrocities being meted out to innocent civilians, including women and children, during the unrest have emboldened the mob and anti-social elements to carry out unlawful activities without any regard for the law enforcing agencies, resulting in chaos and complete loss of faith in the state government. This situation would not have arisen had the government nipped the crisis in the bud. The Centre should immediately stop killings and brutalities in the state. Justice should be delivered to the two women, other rape victims and all the innocent civilians killed in the ongoing conflict without delay. Only action will work now because humanity has already died in Manipur.