Four Arrested A Day After Outrage Over Manipur Viral Video

The Manipur Police on Thursday said a total of four people have been arrested in the case of women being paraded naked and sexually assaulted by a mob in B Phainom village on May 4.

One of the alleged perpetrators was arrested Thursday morning, the state police said. The 32-year-old man, identified as Huirem Heradas Singh, was arrested from Thoubal district after the video of the women went viral. The man, dressed in a green T-shirt, was seen dragging one of the women in the video.

The arrests came a day after widespread condemnation of the police, in view of the huge gap between the crime and the surfacing of the video. Very little headway was made in the 70-plus days since the case was filed, reports NDTV.

According to FIR, the mob killed a 56-year-old man from the group of five before turning to the three women. The FIR stated that two of them were stripped and paraded naked, while the 21-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped. Her 19-year-old brother was murdered for trying to save her sister. The three women managed to escape with the help of locals, the FIR stated.

“Four main accused arrested in the Viral Video Case: 03 (three) more main accused of the heinous crime of abduction and gangrape under Nongpok Sekmai PS, Thoubal District have been arrested today. So a total 04 (four) persons have been arrested till now”, a tweet from Manipur Police read.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Four main accused arrested in the Viral Video Case :<br><br>03 (three) more main accused of the heinous crime of abduction and gangrape under Nongpok Sekmai PS, Thoubal District have been arrested today. So total 04 (four) persons have been arrested till now. <br><br>1/2</p>&mdash; Manipur Police (@manipur_police) <a href="https://twitter.com/manipur_police/status/1682060117695672320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Earlier, Manipur chief minister Biren Singh announced, “We will not spare anyone. All the legislators of the ruling BJP condemn the incident in the strongest possible terms. Will give exemplary punishment to all those involved, even go to the extent of seeking capital punishment."

Suggested Reading: Manipur Women Paraded Naked: How Low Will We Fall As A Nation?