The Kuki woman was abducted from Imphal in May 2023, gangraped by armed men
She was abandoned to die amid the breakdown of law and order during ethnic violence
She survived and filed an FIR months later but suffered lasting injuries, complications, and deep trauma.
Abducted and gang-raped during the 2023 Meitei–Kuki clashes, a young woman from Manipur’s Kuki tribe has succumbed to illness aggravated by severe physical injuries and deep psychological trauma. Her death has renewed questions about impunity, delayed justice, and the use of sexual violence as a weapon during conflict.
The woman, who was 20 at the time of the assault, was kidnapped from Imphal just days after ethnic violence broke out in May 2023. Her family says she never recovered from the shock and injuries she suffered and died without seeing justice.
The Victim
The woman lived in Imphal’s New Checkon area. She worked at a beauty parlour. Originally from Churachandpur, she was known, her mother said, for being lively, social, and full of life.
“My daughter was a very lively and outgoing girl before she was subjected to this horrifying brutality. She wasn’t really interested in academics, but she worked at a beauty parlour in Imphal with one of our relatives. She had many friends and often hung out with them. My daughter was always smiling and full of life, but after the incident, she lost her smile,” her mother told media.
The Abduction
On May 15, 2023, just 12 days into the Meitei–Kuki clashes, the woman was abducted near an ATM in Imphal. According to her account, four men forced her into a purple Maruti Swift and drove her away as violence and chaos engulfed the state.
According to her testimony and accounts from Kuki organisations, she was first assaulted by members of the Meira Paibi in the Wangkhei Ayanpali area and then allegedly handed over to black-shirted members of Arambai Tenggol, a Meitei group that took up arms during the peak of the violence.
She was taken in a white Bolero to a hilltop in Langgol, where she was gangraped through the night, and then abandoned to die in Bishnupur. Kuki organisations have alleged that some members of the Meira Paibi facilitated her handover to the armed men.
In her FIR, she stated that four armed men in black shirts took her to a hilly area, where three of them raped her repeatedly. “I was taken away in a white Bolero by four men. And while they were taking me away, three of them sexually assaulted me, except for the driver. I was then taken to a hill where they tortured and assaulted me,” she said in an interview in 2023. “Whatever miserable things that they could do to me, they did and the whole night I was not given anything to eat. They didn’t even give water. In the morning, somehow, on the pretext of going to the washroom… I removed the blindfold and tried to look at what was around and what was happening. After that I took the decision to run down the hill and escape,” she said.
Justice Delayed
Despite severe injuries, the woman managed to escape by running down the hill. She hid under a pile of vegetables in an autorickshaw whose driver took her to safety and reached Kangpokpi hospital. She was later referred to a hospital in Kohima, the capital of neighbouring Nagaland.
Amid the near-total breakdown of law and order in Manipur, she was able to file a police complaint only on July 21, more than two months after the assault. Large parts of the state were inaccessible, communities were segregated by violence, and fear and displacement made access to police and courts extremely difficult.
Living With Trauma
Though she survived the assault, her family said the damage was irreversible. The Churachandpur-based Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), announcing a candlelight vigil in her memory, said she suffered severe physical injuries, deep psychological trauma, and serious uterine complications.
“Though she miraculously survived, she suffered severe physical injuries, deep psychological trauma, and serious uterine complications. She was treated in Guwahati but tragically succumbed to her injuries on January 10, 2026,” the ITLF said.
The mother of the victim said the injuries led to breathing problems and a steady decline in her health. Ethnic violence between the Meitei and Kuki tribes erupted in May 2023 over issues including land rights, political representation, and access to state power. More than 260 people have been killed and nearly 50,000 displaced.
President’s Rule was imposed after Chief Minister Biren Singh resigned in 2025 amid an audio probe related to the use of arms during the violence.
