Tribal woman, mother of three killed, set ablaze in Manipur district 17 houses burnt

Thomas Ngangom, Prawesh Lama, HT, Imphal/New Delhi, November 9, 2024 :  A 31-year-old woman was allegedly shot, raped, and set on fire as militants attacked a tribal village in the Jiribam district of Manipur, officials familiar with the matter said on Friday — an incident that ruptured the fragile peace maintained in the strife-torn state for close totwo months.

According to people familiar with the matter, suspected members of the radical Metei organisation Arambai Tenggol, attacked the Zairawn village on Thursday night. The village is dominated by members of the Hmar community.

“Seventeen houses were burned by the Arambai Tenggol. While entering the village, they started burning the houses and firing from their automatic guns. Villagers fled to the jungle but a woman was trapped...,” tribal outfit Indigenous Tribal Advocacy Committee (ITAC) said in a statement.

In his complaint to the police, the woman’s husband said that she was raped before being set on fire.

“My wife… mother of three was brutally murdered (raped and burnt alive) on the fateful night of 7th November, 2024, at our residence located at Jairolpokpi (Zairawn), Jiribam, by fully armed Meitei militants. My house was also looted and burnt down,” the man said his complaint. HT has seen a copy of the complaint.

Jiribam Superintendent of Police (SP) Khamnam Robinsun Singh wrote to district magistrateKrishna Kumar on Friday, seeking permission for the post-mortem examination to be conducted in the Silchar district of neighbouring Assam as Jiribam did not have a “proper facility of forensic medicine” and it was “inconvenient” to transport the body to Imphal. In the communication, the SP said that the police have invoked rape charges in the FIR registered under BNS sections 64(1) (punishment for rape), 103(2) (murder) and others. HT has seen a copy of the communication but not of the FIR.

“We had already registered an FIR into the incident on our own. Later, based on statement of the woman’s husband, we added the rape section,” a Manipur Police officer said on condition of anonymity.

The Print:  A 31-year-old woman, Zosangkim, was allegedly shot at, beaten, sexually assaulted and burnt alive Thursday night in a brutal attack on Zairawn, a Hmar-dominated village in Manipur’s Jiribam district.

According to local residents and tribal groups, 80 to 100 armed assailants, allegedly from the Meitei community and radical armed Meitei group Arambai Tenggol, opened fire at the villagers and set as many as 17 homes ablaze, escalating violence in the region.

“Around 9 pm last night, we heard gunfire and immediately began running,” recounted a resident of Zairawn, whose house was also set ablaze. “They came in two teams—one opened fire on residents while the other started burning our homes,” the resident, who lives directly across from Zosangkim’s house, told ThePrint Friday.

“They didn’t just burn our houses—they looted everything: furniture, vehicles, even ceiling fans,” he said. “They came in vehicles and loaded up all our belongings. My entire house is destroyed. We had no weapons; we were completely helpless.”

Locals told ThePrint that Zosangkim, a mother of three—two daughters, aged 9 and 7, and a son aged 3—was shot at in her thigh and got injured while trying to escape. Her husband managed to carry her about half a kilometre away, around 10 pm. He quickly took their children to a secure location, but when he returned for his wife, she had disappeared from the spot. She was later found beaten up and burnt alive in her own house.

Speaking to ThePrint, a senior police officer said miscreants, suspected to be members of the valley-based Arambai Tenggol, had attacked Zairawn village late at night, opened fire and set houses ablaze. He added that although the area was under security, the miscreants had slipped in.

“They were heavily armed with sophisticated weapons. It was late in the night and they took advantage of that. A case in this regard has been registered. We are carrying combing operations in the area. The situation is under control,” the senior police officer said.

When asked if Zosangkim had been raped, the officer said: “The complainants have alleged that the woman was sexually assaulted so we took the additional complaint and added sections in the case of arson which was filed. The post-mortem exam of the woman is yet to be conducted.”

Most of the villagers are now seeking shelter in the homes of their Muslim friends in a nearby area.

The local resident mentioned earlier said: “We thought we were protected here in our village, with the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) stationed nearby. But we’re helpless. They saw what was happening—they were right there, surrounding us—but they did nothing to help. They didn’t protect us at all. So what’s the point of their presence here if we’re still not safe?”

The Indigenous Tribes Advocacy Committee (ITAC) of Pherzawl and Jiribam districts has strongly condemned the violence.

In a statement, it expressed deep distrust in the Manipur government machinery, including state forces and police, and urged the central government to intervene.

“We request the central government to step in to protect the innocent Kuki-Zomi-Hmar people in Jiribam and Pherzawl districts,” says a statement by the body.

“For the past two to three months, there hasn’t been any conflict or firing in Jiribam,” John Hmar, spokesperson of ITAC, said. “People began to believe that life might finally return to normal. Many had just returned to their homes and villages for a few days, thinking it was safe. And now, suddenly, this violence has erupted again. I don’t even have the words—it’s incredibly painful for us and for our community.”