As violence unfolded in Manipur's capital Imphal in early May, several people tried to escape from troubled localities. A 19-year-old tribal woman alleged as she was planning her escape and went to an ATM, she was kidnapped by a group of men. She narrated her trauma to NDTV. Women have been at the receiving end of the Manipur ethnic conflict.
The woman alleged she was taken to a hilly area, where three men took turns to rape her. She said she was hit with the butt of a gun and was not given food and water. The men handed her over to a valley-based insurgent group on May 15, she told NDTV.
"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.
"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 give even water. In the morning, somehow, on the pretext of going to the washroom, I asked them to untie me. One of them was kind enough to do that and that's when 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. The woman eventually managed to reach Kangpokpi, where she was referred to a hospital in Kohima, the capital of neighbouring Nagaland, according to her complaint filed with Kangpokpi police station. She said she managed to file the police complaint only on July 21.
Over two months since the incident, a police case has been filed of gang-rape, criminal intimidation and kidnapping with intention of murder with Porompat police station in Imphal too.
Sources said they have recorded a statement of the officer in charge of the police station she visited briefly and checked the CCTV footage in nearby areas. The police said no arrests have been made and no accused have been identified. They said they have not found any evidence yet.
Police said the investigation is going on. But the lack of evidence to corroborate her allegations is hampering the investigation. And it's this lack of evidence that the police are claiming that puts a question mark on whether women like her would get justice.
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