Thousands of women have turned out to protests across India after a video of two women being forced to strip and sexually assaulted by a mob went viral.
The incident took place in the state of Manipur, which has witnessed widespread violence between two ethnic groups over the last two months.
The victims, who belong to the Christian Kuki minority group, were filmed being marched through a village by a crowd of men from the Hindu Meitei majority group known on May 3.
The footage shows the pair being pushed around, dragged and groped by the men, one of whom threatened to ‘kill’ them, and were eventually led into a field.
Police believe one of the women was then gang-raped, and that a third woman, who is not seen in the video, was also forced to strip.
According to local media, the attack was part of a wave of violence sparked by fake news suggesting Kukis were responsible for the rape and murder of a Meitei woman.
On Friday, a group of women were pictured setting fire to a house said to belong to one of the men accused of being part of the mob.
Hemant Pandey, a senior police official in the state capital Imphal, said: ‘Local women pelted stones and burnt some parts of the house belonging to the prime accused in a village.
‘We request women to protest peacefully as there is intense unease. We understand their rage.’
At least 130 people have died in deadly clashes in Manipur this summer, which has also been plagued by shootings, lootings of businesses and sexual assaults.
An estimated 60,000 have lost their homes amid a push by members of each group for total social segregation.
The national government has deployed thousands of soldiers but has avoided directly confronting either group, possibly as many local officials are said to be wrapped up in the conflict.
One of the victims told The Indian Express newspaper: ‘The police were there with the mob which was attacking our village.
‘The police picked us up from near home, and took us a little away from the village and left us on the road with the mob.’
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, broke his silence on the conflict on Thursday, telling the national parliament ‘the entire country has been shamed’ by the incident.
He said: ‘I want to assure the nation, no guilty [people] will be spared.
‘Action will be taken according to the law. What happened to the daughters of Manipur can never be forgiven.’
India’s chief justice, Dhananjaya Chandrachud, appeared to criticise the government for failing to do more.
He said the Supreme Court would intervene if Modi and his ministers didn’t, stating: ‘I think it’s time that the government really steps in and takes action because this is simply unacceptable.
‘Four men were arrested in Manipur shortly after an order from the Supreme Court of India.
Protests have erupted on and off for at least two months in Manipur, which borders Myanmar.
Members of Modi’s BJP party have stoked ethnic tensions by blaming problems on an influx of refugees from Myanmar who share ties with the Kukis.
The chief minister of Manipur, a Meitei who is also BJP member, gave a TV interview last months accusing Kukis and refugees of conspiring in ‘drugs business’ and ‘planting poppy’, a crop used to produce heroin.
