Another Death in Manipur on Day that Bodies Lying in Morgues Were Finally Returned to Kin

Manipur police confirmed that 41 bodies have been sent to Churachandpur, 19 to Kangpokpi from Imphal and four from Churachandpur have been relocated to Imphal. The continuing turmoil had made it impossible for families to collect bodies of loved ones lying in other parts of the state.

Khaitinmang Baite was killed on the day when the bodies of both communities (Meitei and Kuki), which were lying in the morgues of different districts of Manipur, were finally sent to their respective districts. Photo provided by author.

Yaqut Ali, The WIre, New Delhi, 14 December 2023 :: India’s sensitive border state which has been riven with violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities since May 3, saw another death on Thursday, December 14, when a 26-year-old Kuki volunteer was killed in the Haolenphai Tengnoupal district of the state.

Khaitinmang Baite was killed on the day when the bodies of both communities (Meitei and Kuki), which were lying in the morgues of different districts of Manipur, were finally sent to their respective districts. Speaking to The Wire, Baite’s aunt, Hoilhing, said, “He was a final year student doing his master’s degree. He has three children and the youngest is just a week old.”

She said that he received “four-five bullet injuries before finally succumbing to injuries in the Churachandpur district hospital.”

Recently, the Supreme Court ordered the Manipur government to bury the unidentified and unclaimed bodies of individuals killed during the violence in Manipur that has been effectively not in control for over seven months now.

“Either the relatives of the deceased can accept the bodies and perform the last rites at any of the nine burial sites identified by the Manipur government or the state can go ahead and do the same in accordance with municipal laws,” the court had ordered.

The inability of family members to travel within the state to collect the bodies of their relatives killed in the violence has been a continual reminder of the divide in the state with almost no serious attempts to restore amity by the Bharatiya Janata Party state government run by N. Biren Singh, or that by the BJP-led Union government in Delhi.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, bodies of the Kuki community that were in Imphal were sent back to Kangpokpi and Churachandpur district via air-ambulance. The Manipur police late at night said, that “the dead bodies of the deceased persons in c/w the present violence in the State which had been kept preserved at the mortuaries of District Hospital Churachandpur, RIMS and JNIMS have been relocated to their respective hometowns or preferred locations and handed over to the next of kin for their final rites.”

It confirmed that “41 bodies to Churachandpur, 19 bodies to Kangpokpi from JNIMS and RIMS Imphal and 04 bodies from Churachandpur to Imphal have been relocated for handing over to next of kin of the deceased persons.”

More than 200 lives have been claimed by the violence so far. The numbers include those who have died due to a lack of medical facilities. Furthermore, both communities are discussing the whereabouts and probable fates of missing persons of their communities.

Speaking to The Wire, Soibam Ibohal from the International Meitei Organisation said, “There are still 22 missing persons from our community, including those two children (Luwangbi Linthoingambi Hijam and Phijam Hemanjit Singh) who went to coaching class and never came back.” The Wire has reported about the two young persons who had gone missing.

On the other side, there are at least nine missing persons from the Kuki community. In a press note, COTU, a Civil Society Group, informed the media about the cremation ceremony scheduled to take place at Phaijang village in Kangpokpi on December 15. The bodies sent to Kangpokpi also include the bodies of three Kuki women who were killed in Imphal, and their case is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. COTU has also declared a full 12-hour shutdown from 5 am to 5 pm.

There is no announcement so far from Churachandpur about the burial of the bodies there.

Incidentally, the violence in Manipur and the prime minister’s silence on it, also came up in the initial police probe into the smoke bomb attack in the Lok Sabha when two protesters leapt off the visitors’ gallery and proceeded to release yellow smoke in the area.