A group of outraged women have burned down the houses of four suspected of having forced two women to parade naked in the Indian state of Manipur (northeast), where ethnic clashes have left at least 120 dead in recent months, according to a video released on Friday.
The suspects were identified from a video of the incident, which occurred in early May, which went viral on social media Wednesday and sparked outrage across the country.
“Four defendants have been arrested in the case of the viral video,” the Manipur state police wrote on Twitter on Thursday night.
The images show two women from the Christian Kuki tribe walking naked down a street, mocked and harassed by a crowd, presumably from the dominant Meitei ethnic group, mostly Hindu.
After the suspects were arrested, a group of Meitei activists threw hay at the house of one of the defendants in Imfal, the state capital, and set it on fire.
Another group of women did the same on Friday, burning down the home of a second suspect.
India is usually a conservative and patriarchal country, but in the meitei community, women have a bigger role than elsewhere and a history of fighting for their rights.
The state of Manipur has been the scene of ethnic clashes in recent months, sparked mainly by the possibility of the Meitei obtaining preferential status over the Kuki.
The outbreak of violence between the two tribal groups, the worst in decades, has left at least 120 dead and thousands displaced.
The video that went viral sparked demonstrations across the country on Friday, calling for the resignation of the head of the local government.
“Are there normal people who can do that? (…) Not even cats, dogs, animals commit such disgusting acts,” said a protester near Imfal.
The footage also sparked a reaction from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Thursday called the incident a “shame on any civilized society.”
The local government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said police took action as soon as the video was released, more than two months after the incident.
On Twitter, Manipur’s Chief Minister N. Biren Singh noted that a “thorough investigation” was underway.
“We will ensure that strict measures are taken against all perpetrators, including the possibility of capital punishment,” he added.
The violence in May erupted after a protest march against the possibility of the Meitei community obtaining the more advantageous status of “registered tribe”, which would guarantee them quotas for public employment and admission to universities.
This hypothesis revived old fears of the Kuki tribe that the Meitei could acquire land in areas currently reserved for them and other tribal groups.
In a report filed in court in June, the civil society group Manipur Tribal Forum claimed that many acts of violence, including rapes and beheadings, had been committed without investigation by local authorities.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
