Kidnapped By Mob And Gang-Raped 2 Years Ago, Kuki Woman Dies In Manipur

A woman from the Kuki tribe, who was gang-raped after she was kidnapped by a group of men from Manipur's capital Imphal just after the Meitei-Kuki ethnic clashes broke out in May 2023, has died of an illness aggravated by the trauma she went through, leaving her family heartbroken over their daughter not getting justice when she was alive.

Her family said she never recovered from the deep shock and physical injuries she suffered over two years ago, which affected her health.

In a conversation with NDTV in July 2023, she had narrated the horrors she suffered at the hands of some men from the Meitei community. She escaped with severe injuries and managed to file a police complaint only on July 21, two months since the sexual assault, amid the breakdown in law and order in the border state.

The Churachandpur-based Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) in a statement announcing a candlelight vigil in the woman's memory said she was taken to Langgol, where she was raped, and later abandoned in Bishnupur and left to die.

"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 woman's mother told Newslaundry that her daughter developed breathing problems due to the severe injuries.

"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," the mother said.

In the first information report (FIR), the 20-year-old woman had alleged she was taken to a hilly area by four armed men in black shirts, where three of them took turns to rape her. Members of the Meitei group, Arambai Tenggol, who took up arms during the peak of the ethnic violence, wear black shirts. Kuki organisations have alleged some members of the Meira Paibi handed her over to the Meitei men.

"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 told NDTV in July 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.

An autorickshaw driver gave her a ride to safety as she hid under a pile of vegetables. She managed to reach Kangpokpi, where she was referred to a hospital in Kohima, the capital of neighbouring Nagaland.

Ethnic violence between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the Kuki tribes, who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur, broke out in May 2023 over a range of issues such as land rights and political representation. Over 260 have died in the violence and nearly 50,000 have been internally displaced.

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