Manipur violence story : the reason for violence & gruesome atrocities on women

  

Violence continues in Manipur for the last 83 days.  Meanwhile, some such videos have come to the fore which have shocked the entire country.  In this video, two women from the Kuki community are shown being paraded naked on the road.  This video has become a topic of discussion all over the world.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condemned it.  He said that the culprits will not be spared under any circumstances.  The Supreme Court has also taken suo motu cognizance of this matter.  Chief Justice DY Chandrachud has directed the Central and State Government to take strict action.  The Chief Justice even said that either the government should take action, otherwise we will intervene in this matter ourselves.

 Why did violence break out in Manipur?

 To understand this we should know the geographical location of Manipur.  With this we should go back a bit.  Actually, Imphal, the capital of Manipur, is right in the middle.  This is 10% of the entire state, in which 57% of the state's population lives.  The remaining 90% of the surrounding areas are hilly areas, where 43% of the state's population lives.  The population of the Meitei community is high in the Imphal Valley area.  These are mostly Hindus.  Their share in the total population of Manipur is about 53%.  If we look at the statistics, out of total 60 MLAs in the state, 40 MLAs are from the Meitei community.

 On the other hand, there are 33 recognized tribes living in the hilly areas.  Prominent among these are the Naga and Kuki tribes.  Both these tribes are predominantly Christian.  Apart from this, 8 percent of the population each in Manipur belongs to the Muslim and Sanmahi communities.

 Under Article 371C of the Indian Constitution, the hill tribes of Manipur have got special status and facilities, which the Meitei community does not get.  Due to the 'Land Reform Act', the Meitei community cannot buy land and settle in hilly areas.  While there is no restriction on the tribes coming from the hilly areas and settling in the valley.  This has increased the differences between the two communities.

When did the violence start?

 The present tension started from Churachandpur district.  It is about 63 kilometers to the south of the capital Imphal.  Kuki tribals are more in this district.  On April 28, The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum announced an eight-hour bandh in Churachandpur to protest against the government land survey.  In no time, this bandh took a violent form.  The same night, miscreants set the forest department office on fire in Tuibong area.  In the violence of 27-28 April, mainly the police and the Kuki tribals were face to face.

 Exactly on the fifth day i.e. on May 3, the All Tribal Students' Union of Manipur took out 'Adivasi Ekta March'.  It was against the grant of ST status to the Meitei community.  From here the situation got worse.  The people of the Meitei community stood up against this demonstration of the tribals.  There were three sides to the fight.

 On one side were the people of the Meitei community and on the other side were the people of the Kuki and Naga communities.  Within no time, the whole state started burning in the fire of this violence.  A rally of Chief Minister Biren Singh was to be held in Churachandpur on May 4.  Complete preparations were done, but the miscreants set fire to the tents and the program venue in the night itself.  CM's program got postponed.  So far more than 150 people have died due to this violence.  More than three thousand people are said to be injured.

Opposition to ST status of Meitei community:

 The Meitei Tribe Union has been demanding tribal status for the Meitei community for the past several years.  The matter reached the Manipur High Court.  Hearing this, the Manipur High Court had asked the state government to submit the 10-year-old Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs' recommendation on April 19.  In this recommendation, it has been asked to give the status of tribe to the Meitei community.

The court ordered to give tribal status to the Meitei community.  Now this decision of the High Court has been challenged in the Supreme Court.  A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala is hearing the case.

 Government's action against illegal encroachments: In the midst of the reservation dispute, the Manipur government's action against illegal encroachments added fuel to the fire.  The Manipur government says that people of the tribal community are cultivating opium by illegal encroachment in protected forests and forest sanctuaries.  To remove these encroachments, the government is running a campaign to remove any encroachment on forest land under the Manipur Forest Rule 2021.

 At the same time, the tribals say that this is their ancestral land.  They have not encroached, but have been living there for years.  The tribals presented this campaign of the government as removing them from their ancestral land.  Due to which anger spread.

 Kuki insurgent organizations broke the agreement with the government: Amidst the violence, the Kuki insurgent organizations also broke the 2008 agreement with the central government.  Indeed, several organizations of the Kuki tribe have been involved in the military insurgency until 2005.  At the time of Manmohan Singh government, in 2008, the central government signed a suspension of operation (SoS) agreement with almost all Kuki insurgent organizations to stop military action against them.

 Its purpose was to promote political dialogue.  Then the term of this agreement was extended from time to time, but on March 10 this year, the Manipur government withdrew from this agreement for two organizations of the Kuki community.  These organizations are the Jomi Revolutionary Army and the Kuki National Army.  Both these organizations are armed.

The armed men of these organizations also joined the violence in Manipur and started attacking the army and police.

 Who has been accused of making women roam around naked?

 According to reports, the two women being paraded naked in the viral video belong to the Kuki community.  The video is said to be of May 4, when the violence was in its initial stage.  The people of Meitei community have been accused of making women roam naked.

 In this case, the police have registered a case of kidnapping, gang rape and murder against unknown armed miscreants at Nongpok Sekmai police station in Thoubal district.  On the other hand, Manipur Chief Minister N.  Biren Singh has also constituted a separate team to investigate the matter.  The Central Government has also sought a report from the State Government on this issue.  Union Women and Child Welfare Minister Smriti Irani also spoke to the Chief Minister