Manipur women parade case: Mob burns down house of main accused

Imphal, July 21 (IANS) A mob of women burnt down the house of the main accused in a case pertaining to parading of two disrobed women by a group of people in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on May 4, police said on Friday.

In Imphal,  a mob of women set fire to the house of Huirem Herodas Singh (Meitei) at Yairipok village in Thoubal district late on Thursday evening.

The Manipur police on Thursday night said that four accused, including Singh (Meitei), have been arrested in connection with the shocking case of women disrobed and paraded.

Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who also holds the home portfolio, told the media that interrogation of the arrested persons is being conducted by senior police officials and at this juncture, he would not be able to disclose the details.

“The state Police is making all out efforts to arrest the remaining culprits at the earliest. Raids are continuing,” the Manipur Police tweeted.

Meanwhile, state Director General of Police Rajiv Singh told the media that the women victims are now safe.

Another senior police official said that the search operation by the Manipur Police and other security forces have been continued in Kangpokpi, Thoubal and other adjoining districts to nab the culprits.

The official added that several police teams headed by senior officers were formed to supervise the extensive search to locate the offenders involved in the May 4 incident.

Meanwhile, the husband of one of two victims, had served the Indian Army as a Subedar of the Assam Regiment. The former Army Subedar, who was posted in Sri Lanka as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force and a Kargil war veteran, while talking to a local television channel, lamented that though he protected the country, he could not save his wife from being humiliated by the mob.

"I fought for the nation in the Kargil but am deeply upset that I could not prevent the fellow villagers from humiliating and molesting my wife,” the distressed former Army man rued.

He said that on the fateful May 4, the mob comprising men and women, burnt down several houses in the locality, dragged the victims out from the homes, disrobed them and forced them walk on the village roads in front of the people and recorded the horrific scene in camera.

Accusing the police of behaving like a "wooden doll", he demanded exemplary punishment for the people involved in the heinous incident.