A video showing two women being paraded naked by a mob in the violence-hit northeastern state of Manipur has sparked outrage in India.
This is also likely to dominate discussions in the parliament’s monsoon session, which beings on Thursday.
Opposition politicians have demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement on the crisis in Manipur.
At least 130 have died and tens of thousands have been displaced since ethnic clashes started in May.
Clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki communities after the Meiteis – the state’s main ethnic group – demanded tribal status which gives access to benefits such as forest land and government job and education quotas.
Some 60,000 have become refugees in their own land. Opposition politicians have criticised PM Modi for not visiting the state or speaking about the violence in Manipur so far.
The horrific video of the two women was widely shared on social media on Wednesday. It shows them being dragged and groped by a mob of men who then push them into a field.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) said in a statement that the atrocities had been committed in a village in Kangpokpi district against women from the Kuki-Zo tribal community. It also alleged that the women had been gangraped.
“The gang rape of the women happened after the village was burnt down and two men – one middle-aged and another a teenager – were beaten to death by the mob,” the ITLF said.
Police said that the incident took place on 4 May and that a case of abduction, gangrape and murder had been registered against “unknown armed miscreants” at Thoubal District.
The police added that they were making an “all out effort to arrest the culprits at the earliest”.
The case made national headlines on Thursday after the video of the incident started going viral on social media. The federal government has asked all social media companies to deleted the video from their platforms.
The incident has sparked strong reactions from politicians across the spectrum.
Federal minister Smriti Irani, called the incident “condemnable and downright inhuman”. She also said that she had spoken to Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who informed her that investigations were underway and that “no effort will be spared to bring perpetrators to justice”.
Several opposition leaders also criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party government for not doing enough to quell the violence in the state.
Congress party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadhra said that the “images of sexual violence against women from Manipur are heart wrenching”, adding that women and children face the maximum brunt of violence in society.
She asked why the federal government and the prime minister “were sitting blindly on the violent actions in Manipur”. “Do such images and violent incidents not disturb them?” she tweeted.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also condemned the incident. “This kind of heinous act cannot be tolerated in the Indian society,” he said.
“The situation in Manipur is becoming very worrying. I appeal to the prime minister to pay attention to the situation in Manipur. Please take strict action against the culprits seen in the video of this incident. There should be no place for people of such criminal nature in India,” he tweeted.
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