If I can meet strip parade victims, why can’t Manipur CM, says Swati Maliwal

The chief minister should resign. If I can come from Delhi and meet those victims, why can’t he?: Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson

Chairperson Of Delhi Commission for Women Swati Maliwal speaks with the media as she leaves for violence-hit Manipur, at the Delhi airport on July 23.: PTI picture

PTI, Imphal, 25.07.23 :  Demanding the resignation of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal on Tuesday questioned why the CM could not meet the women who were stripped and paraded, when she could do so.

Maliwal, who is visiting the northeastern state since Sunday, claimed that the families of the two women who were shown being paraded naked in a viral video told her that nobody from the government had met them.

She appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani to come to the state.

“Manipur is burning. If something is not done right now, it will be difficult to save Manipur,” she told reporters after calling on state Governor Anusuiya Uikey.

The central government should ask the chief minister to resign as he does not deserve to remain in that post, the DCW chairperson said.

She said, “I went to Churachandpur alone, without any security. I met the families of the two women who were stripped, paraded naked and sexually assaulted. If I can meet them, why can’t the chief minister? Why can’t he go to Churachandpur and other affected places in his bullet-proof car?” Maliwal said she went to relief camps in Imphal, Churachandpur and Moirang and found that the condition of those facilities is poor.

A viral video from May 4 of two women being paraded naked by a mob in Manipur renewed the national attention on Manipur, where violence broke out nearly three months ago, killing over 160 people since then, and injuring hundreds.

The violence erupted on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mainly in the hill districts.