Heroes or villains? Dubious roles for Manipur’s ‘mothers’ and Assam Rifles in sexual violence cases

Incidentally, the role of Meira Paibis, hitherto lauded as peacekeepers, has come under intense scrutiny following multiple allegations of their involvement in committing crimes against women, including sexual violence. The survivors seen in the “viral video,” who were allegedly gang-raped by members of the same group seen in the clip, were beaten up and handed over to the men (allegedly from a Meitei militant group, Arambai Tengol) allegedly by women belonging to Meira Paibi. The group has been named in multiple FIRs and testimonies of Kuki-Zo complainants, including survivors of sexual violence and physical assault. “It was the Meira Paibi women who first attacked me and then handed me over to armed men who then sexually assaulted me,” said Angel*, a 19-year-old gang rape survivor from the Kuki community currently recovering in Kangpokpi. Angel was abducted in a car from outside an ATM in East Imphal, where she had gone to collect some money on May 15, two weeks after the violence broke out. Similar allegations were made by the parents of Flora*, who was allegedly gang-raped by Meiteis before being murdered by a mob of Meiteis at a car wash in Imphal’s Porrompet area on May 4. “The women gave the girls to the men,” Flora’s father alleged. Former nursing student Chin Sian Chiang, who was dragged from her college and beaten by Meitei women before being led out on the street on May 4, said the women threatened to rape her and her friend, both Kukis. “They said Kukis had raped Meitei women in Churachandpur and Meitei men would do the same to us in revenge,” Chiang recalled. She claimed that she had not been sexually assaulted, adding that she was “lucky”. “It was very disheartening to see women we respected as peacekeepers and mothers turned into perpetrators of violence,” said the 23-year-old who was admitted to AIIMS in Delhi after the attack last year, from Churachandpur, where she currently lives.