A Lynching Caught On Tape: Manipur's Kuki Family Demands Justice For The 'Missing Man'

On June 2, the Manipur government in a statement said that at least 98 people lost their lives and 310 were injured in the ethnic violence in Manipur that broke out about a month ago. It further said that 4,014 cases of arson had also been reported since May 3 across the northeastern state. Locals and activists working on ground claim that the number is much higher and violence, though sporadic, has continued across pockets in the state.

Thirty-five-year-old Sehkhohao Kipgen was wearing a blue t-shirt when he went out on the fateful day of May 3, when ethnic clashes between the Meiteis and Kukis broke out in Manipur. His 30-year-old wife Nengjahoi Kipgen recalls that the colour of his t-shirt became vital in identifying his body. The killing was seemingly caught on tape but Nengjahoi has not yet seen the viral video of her husband’s lynching. “I cannot bear to see it,” she states. In her arms, she cradles an 11-month-old baby as her two other toddlers, aged two and three years, cling to her legs, hiding themselves behind her loose trousers. 

Sehkhohao Kipgen, nicknamed Haopu, a local farmer from the Kuki community, was killed after a mob allegedly attacked his village in Churachandpur on May 3. His family is currently staying at an acquaintance’s house in K Salbung, his village. 

“When the conflict started, we were at home in Torbung and my husband went out to defend the village from attacks. I do not know how my husband was killed but I heard about it after a video of his lynching became viral,” she says between sobs.

Outlook reported on the lynching earlier on May 16 when it had visited Manipur in the wake of the violence. On June 12, the family of Haopu still have no confirmation about the death. They never saw his body. They have filed an FIR but do not know if they can perform his son’s last rites.

“In our last conversation (over the phone), he told us not to worry. Although he injured his leg, he wanted to stay back with other village volunteers. My relatives later called me to confirm that he was killed. They asked about the colour of his clothes to confirm it was really him,” she recalls. The family was later told that Haopu’s body is in RIMS mortuary in Imphal. They cannot go to Imphal due to the violence resulting in the displacement of Kukis from Meitei-dominated areas and vice versa. The two groups currently have no dialogue and fighting is ongoing. The Kukis have implemented road blockades while they claim that they don’t feel safe going to Meitei areas in Imphal Valley any more. 

On May 21, local media reported that at least 26 bodies were decomposing in the RIMS mortuary while 19 others were perishing in the JNIMS mortuary. 

Nengjahoi and her mother-in-law claim that their home in Torbung, a Meitei-dominated village bordering Bishnupur in the Kuki-dominated Churchandpur district, was attacked by mobs. Torbung currently lies in ashes. No family, Kuki or Meitei, is left in the village which lies buried under ashes and debris. Other villages in Churachandpurs that share border with Bishnupur have also been reduced to ashes, with all the Meiteis from the region currently taking refuge in the valley and border villages like Moirang.

In the days following the violence in Churachandpur, the alleged video of Haopu’s killing was widely shared on social media. 

It shows a man, wearing a blue t-shirt, being shot and beaten to death by a violent and armed mob. The attackers are hard to identify. “Even after receiving the news of his death, I have not seen his dead body. Some say his body was taken to Imphal but I have no confirmation if he was killed or if he is alive,” Haopu’s grieving mother states. 

On June 2, the Manipur government in a statement informed that at least 98 people lost their lives and 310 were injured in the ethnic violence in Manipur that broke out about a month ago, following protests over the Meiteis’ demand to be included among the Scheduled Tribes. The statement also noted that 4,014 cases of arson had been reported since May 3 across the state. 

Locals and activists working on ground claim that the number is much higher and violence, though sporadic, has continued across pockets in the northeastern state. Gruesome killings due to clashes have also been reported last week. On June 4, a seven-year-old boy and his mother were burnt alive along with another woman in Imphal West’s Iroisemba area. The young boy was being taken to hospital after being hit by a bullet splinter at the Assam Rifles camp where his family was staying. He was injured during clashes between people from Meitei and Kuki-dominated villages. 

Since the closest hospital is in Imphal, the child - born of mixed Meitei and Kuki parentage, was being transported to the city in ambulance along with his Kuki mother and a Meitei neighbour. According to a report in Scroll, the ambulance was stopped on its way by the influential Meitei all-woman vigilante group ‘Meira Paibis’ after which the ambulance was even given police protection. However, further mobs attacked the convoy en route following rumours being spread about the evacuation of “Kuki militants”. 

“The government has been trying to paint the Kukis as militants and terrorists. But the majority community are the ones trying to attack us and act like the victim,” Thangminglen Kipgen, spokesperson of Kuki Innpi Manipur, states. 

The Kuki communities had been hoping for help from the Centre ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to the violence-stricken districts. However, with the announcement of a 51-member “Peace Committee” that includes a majority of Meiteis including Chief Minister Biren Singh himself, many among the Kukis now feel disillusioned. 

“It seems the Centre is also supporting the state government’s majoritarian narratives,” he states.

Meanwhile, several organisers and activists on the ground have raised their voice against the behaviour of the state. 

“The Centre has so far been inadequate in its response to contain the violence on ground or mitigate the hate. Dialogue between the two communities is the need of the hour,” says Imphal-based activist Sophia Rajakumari, founder and director of Eta Manipur. 

Eta Manipur and a number of other women’s rights organisations and civil bodies from both Kuki and Meitei communities had, in May, demanded a “Peace Commission” consisting of equal representation of Kuki and Meitei communities including women from both sides. 

“Women and children are among the most impacted. There are many children from both communities suffering from mental trauma now, with no access to counselling or other psychological help - and they will have to live with these scars for decades,” says Shubra Hanjabam, founder of Meira Foods and chairperson of Development of Human Potential. 

“Women have reportedly been physically and verbally abused in many instances, and many have lost their homes and livelihoods,” Hanjabam, who belongs to the Meitei community, adds. 

Her organisation was one of the several women’s organisations that jointly proclaimed in May that they “do not believe that the State or Central government or any political parties are in a position to accomplish these goals (of bringing peace) on their own”. The organisations including Kuki and Meitei women had jointly sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister seeking an eight-member “Peace Committee” consisting of women from all communities. 

The joint statement has also noted that “the complete failure of governance at all levels and the gross incompetence with which the situation has been handled by the State and Central government is alarming”. 

The activists believe that for the peace-building process to take effect and sustain, an open dialogue among all communities with the goal of ensuring social and economic justice, as well as balanced development, is a necessary pre-requisite. But despite the negligible efforts to resuscitate peace, women like Nengjahoi Kipgen or others like the bereaved Laicharam Chan Devi at a Meitei relief camp in Moirang, who lost her elderly parents in the forest while trying to reach the camp as mobs burnt her village, remain angry with the government for failing to protect them during the violence as well as in its aftermath. 

The Biren Singh government as well as the Centre have announced a compensation package of Rs 10 lakh to kin of those who died due to the violence in Manipur and also assured a job to one member of the family of each deceased person. However, many like Haopu’s kin think the compensation does not cover the generational trauma inflicted on the communities. 

“My son Haopu died defending his village. He has left behind three children, a young wife and me, his elderly mother. Ten lakh would not even support one child’s future,” Haopu’s mother says. “We don’t need money or anything but long for the good old days where we settled down peacefully in our own village and continue to yearn for that,” she adds. “We don’t want money, we want justice. I will never forgive nor forget what they have done to us,” she states.