On July 22, a joint letter was sent by National women’s organisation to the National Commission of Women (NCW) to condemn their inaction over a complaint of sexual violence being committed against 3 Kuki women. Through the said letter, the organisations have heighted the gross negligence shown by the NCW, which has the obligatory duty of protecting women in the country and upholding their rights irrespective of class, caste, religion, language, or ethnic origin. The letter has been signed by All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), All India Coordination of POW PMS IJM, All India Mahila Sanskritik Sanghatan and All India Agragami Mahila Samiti.
The incident took place on May 4, 2023, and involved women being paraded naked, sexually assaulted and gang-raped by a mob in Manipur. The video of this incident surfaced on social media on May 19.
On July 20, it was reported that the NCW had been sent a complaint on the matter on June 12, but the complainants never received a response or an acknowledgement. As per media reports, the complaint had been filed by two Manipuri women and a Manipur tribal association headquartered abroad. Reportedly, the complainants had spoken to the survivors and then emailed NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma.
Notably, after the video of the heinous crime had gone viral and invited outrage from across the country, the NCW had tweeted stating that it is taking suo moto cognizance of the matter and that the DGP Manipur has been asked to promptly take appropriate action.
What did the letter entail?
The letter made an urgent appeal to the NCW to “urgently assess the disproportionate victimization of Kuki-Zomi indigenous tribal women through brutal and inhumane acts of sexual violence, including rape, kidnapping, public lynching, immolation and murder”.
“Witness accounts reveal the most harrowing and distressing details, including the incrimination of Meitei women vigilantes as enablers and perpetrators of gender-based violence. Victims and survivors allege that Meitei women vigilantes have actively participated in the attacks and assaults on Kuki-Zomi women and children,” the complaint alleged.
“Several Kuki-Zomi women have been forced to flee for their lives during advanced stages of pregnancy or while recuperating from C-section surgeries. Some have given birth in ad hoc refugee camps…” it added.
Newslaundry reported that the complaint alleged that a 15-year-old girl had been kidnapped and a medical examination report “confirmed assault and rape”.
The complaint said these examples underlined the “serious gravity of gender-based violence, appalling levels of women’s’ rights violations, and continued threats to the physical safety and psychological well-being of Kuki-Zomi women”.
Response of the NCW to the reports
Defending the ‘inaction’ of the NCW, Rekha Sharma said that it had approached the Manipur government thrice after receiving the complaint on June 12.
“There were many complaints and that too from people outside India and outside Manipur,” NCW chief Rekha Sharma said. She further said: “Firstly, it had to be clarified whether whatever was written is true. Manipur government must clarify and if it is true then they must work on it. So, accordingly, we wrote to them. We reached out to authorities but no response was received from them but then we took suo moto cognizance when the video (of women being paraded naked) went viral.”
The joint letter is as follows:
JOINT LETTER TO NCW BY NATIONAL WOMEN’S ORGANISATIONS
Date: 22 July 2023
To
Ms. Rekha Sharma,
Chairperson,
National Commission for Women
Dear Ms. Rekha Sharma,
We, the undersigned women’s organizations, are deeply shocked and appalled to learn that a complaint had been made to the NCW on 12 June 2023, regarding the heinous incident in Manipur of three women being publicly stripped and raped by a mob and that the NCW far from responding to the call of distress and taking immediate action, wrote letters to the Manipur government and kept waiting for a response. Hence, the NCW remained entirely inactive for more than a month. It is reported that there are other cases of sexual violence in Manipur. Only a couple of days back when a video clip of the brutal torture became public and there was widespread outrage all over the country, did the NCW wake from its sleep and take ‘suo moto cognizance’ of the crime.
It is disturbing that no action was taken, except for the filing of a more a mere zero FIR in the incident that had happened on May 4, right after the ethnic violence began on 3 May 2023. This made the police apathy with the victims and collusion with the perpetrators of the crime abundantly clear.
And the deafening silence of the CM and PM was highly condemnable. You are aware that the incidents of violence against women in the country have been on the rise. Did you not realize that women have become the direct victims of the ongoing ethnic violence in the state?
We are strongly of the opinion that the NCW has betrayed its mandate and deliberately sought to cover up this incident. At the very least this is evidence of gross negligence on the part of a respected public institution like NCW which has the obligatory duty of protecting women in the country and upholding their rights irrespective of class, caste, religion, language, or ethnic origin.
Our organizations have given leadership in the struggle to bring into existence a National Commission for Women which would maintain its autonomy and dignity in serving its high purpose and not act as an arm of the ruling party. We have often raised our voices to ensure that NCW does not falter from its lofty objective. NCW has a history of proactive interventions in the myriad issues concerning women. But under your stewardship, we have seen this institution degenerating into partisanship with the ruling dispensation. Your claims of having communicated to the officials in Manipur are too little too late. Never have we seen the institution so shamefully undermining its own mandate. We feel the NCW – in deliberately ignoring and suppressing this atrocious attack upon two tribal women – has misused its office, besmirched its own position, and betrayed the trust the women’s movement in the country had reposed upon it. As chairperson of NCW, we hold you responsible for this shameful situation and we demand that you should forthwith submit your resignation from the post which you have proved yourself unworthy of.
ALL INDIA DEMOCRATIC WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION (AIDWA)–Mariam Dhawale
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDIAN WOMEN (NFIW) – Annie Raja
ALL INDIA PROGRESSIVE WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION (AIPWA) – Meena Tiwari
ALL INDIA COORDINATION OF POW PMS IJM – G. Jhansi, Poonam Kaushik
ALL INDIA MAHILA SANSKRITIK SANGHATAN (AIMSS) – Chhabi Mohanty
ALL INDIA AGRAGAMI MAHILA SAMITI (AIAMS) – Fatima Khatoon
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