Mirabai Chanu, a silver medalist in weightlifting at the Tokyo Olympics, yet again made an emotional plea on social media to bring peace to her embattled home state of Manipur.
The ace athlete reacted after a video circulated on Wednesday showed two women from the Kuki-Zomi group being paraded naked by a mob of men and sexually molested, bringing to light an incident that occurred in Manipur more than two months ago, when violence initially broke out.
Not only Mirabai Chanu but that video elicited strong reactions from politicians across the political spectrum, prompting Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani to talk with state Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
A senior police official acknowledged that the event occurred on May 4 in Thoubal district and that a zero FIR was filed on May 18 in Kangpokpi district. However, despite the fact that a FIR was filed two months ago against “unknown armed miscreants” on allegations including kidnapping, gangrape, and murder, no arrests have been made.
Mirabai Chanu and other sports stars reacts
The two women, one in her twenties and the other in her forties, are from Kangpokpi’s Kuki-Zomi-dominated hill district. A group of men can be seen forcing them to go naked down a road and towards a field in the footage. Some of the males can be seen dragging the two women into a field and groping them violently.
While the event occurred in Thoubal’s Meitei-dominated valley district, the victims later made a complaint at a police station in Kangpokpi district, where a zero FIR was lodged and the case was referred to the Thoubal police station.
According to their complaint, while the video shows only two ladies, the mob also pushed another woman in her 50s to remove her clothes. According to the lawsuit, the younger woman was “brutally gang raped in broad daylight.”
Mirabai Chanu took to Twitter to say: “Please save our state Manipur.”
Harbhajan Singh also took to Twitter to express his anger on the issue.
The former India cricketer wrote: “If I say I am angry, it’s an understatement. I am numb with rage. I am ashamed today after what happened in Manipur. If the perpetrators of this ghastly crime aren’t brought to the book and handed capital punishment, we should stop calling ourselves human. It makes me sick that this has happened. Enough is Enough. Govt MUST act.”
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