Manipur violence: Whenever complaints came, I wrote to Director General of Police, Chief Secretary, says NCW chief
Jul 21, 2023
New Delhi [India], July 21 : After Delhi women's panel chief Swati Maliwal alleged that National Commission for Women (NCW) failed to act even after knowing about the Manipur incident, NCW chief Rekha Sharma on Friday said it is wrong to state that the Commission was sitting on complaints.
The NCW chief clarified that whenever complaints came, they forwarded and wrote to the Director General of Police and Chief Secretary of Manipur.
"It is wrong that NCW was sitting on the complaints. There are some people who are there to malign NCW and the Govt of India that we are not doing anything. This is wrong. Again, I would like to clarify that whenever the complaints came, we forwarded and wrote to DG and CS of Manipur", Rekha Sharma said.
She also added that she had reached out thrice to authorities in Manipur over the incidents of violence but received no response.
"Reached out thrice to authorities in Manipur over incidents of violence against women but no response was received from them", she added.
Earlier today, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal said that NCW was aware of the incident (Manipur) long ago but did not take action.
Raising questions on NCW, the DCW chief said, "NCW was aware of this incident long ago, so why did NCW not take steps, why did the NCW team not reach there, the Chief Minister himself is saying that there have been 100 FIRs. This is very condemnable, I will go to Manipur myself."
In this regard, she also wrote a letter to DGP Manipur and said that she shall be reaching Imphal by July 23 and requested support from DGP’s office.
“I am deeply distressed after watching the recent viral video which revealed how two women were paraded naked, groped, molested and gang raped by a mob of men. I have been informed that the horrific crime occurred in the state over 2.5 months back but not even a single arrest was made by the Manipur Police until the video went viral on social media", read the letter.
Meanwhile, all four accused, who were arrested on Thursday in connection with the viral video of women being paraded naked in Manipur were remanded to 11-day police custody on Friday.
The incident allegedly took place on May 4, a day after ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur.
After a video of the same went viral, the police swung into action and arrested 4 people, including the main accused.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the video, Police on Thursday night said that a case of abduction, gang rape and murder was registered at Nongpok Sekmai police station in Thoubal district against unknown armed men and that all-out efforts were on to arrest the culprits at the earliest.
The two women are alleged to have been sexually assaulted before being set free by the mob comprising the majority community.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke said he is pained over the incident and said the incident is "shameful for any civil society"."No accused will be spared, we will never forgive those who are behind this," PM Modi said.
The violence in Manipur erupted after a rally by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) on May 3 in protest against the proposed inclusion of people belonging to the Meitei community in the list of Scheduled Tribes (STs).
