Kuki-Zo groups oppose Shaurya Chakra award to CRPF officer in Manipur
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Kuki-Zo organisations in Manipur on Monday criticised the Union government’s decision to confer the Shaurya Chakra on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer, alleging that he was involved in the “extrajudicial killing” of ten men from the community.
The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum demanded that the gallantry award granted to Assistant Commandant Vipin Wilson of the CRPF’s 20th Battalion be withdrawn.
President Droupadi Murmu approved gallantry awards for 70 armed forces personnel on January 25. Wilson was among 13 personnel selected for the Shaurya Chakra, the country’s third-highest peacetime gallantry award.
The CRPF said on Sunday night that Wilson had led a team on November 11, 2024, to foil an alleged insurgent camp attack in Manipur, during which 10 persons were neutralised. The gunfight took place at a CRPF post in the Borobekra area of Jiribam district.
“For his unparalleled bravery, he is conferred with the Shaurya Chakra this Republic Day,” the CRPF said.
At the time of the incident, the Manipur Police had stated that those killed in the encounter were suspected Kuki militants. However, Kuki-Zo organisations maintained that the deceased were village volunteers.
The term “village volunteers” has been used to describe armed civilians guarding villages since ethnic violence erupted between the Kuki-Zo-Hmar and Meitei communities in May 2023. The conflict has so far claimed at least 260 lives and displaced more than 59,000 people.
Reacting to the award, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum said it was “appalled” by the decision, calling the conferment a “continuation of discrimination and injustice” against the Kuki-Zo community.
The forum rejected claims that the 10 village volunteers had attacked the CRPF post, stating that the men were “a ragtag group of mostly daily-wage workers” who had volunteered to protect their people and were not trained militants, as alleged by the authorities.
It further said that autopsy reports showed the men were shot from behind, which it claimed contradicted the official version that the CRPF post had come under attack. The forum questioned the decision to honour Wilson, alleging that he had ordered firing on men who were attempting to protect their community.
The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust also condemned the award, describing it not as an act of national pride but as a “state endorsement” of an “extrajudicial killing”.
The organisation claimed that “credible evidence”, including forensic findings and eyewitness accounts, indicated that the victims were unarmed or minimally armed civilians engaged in community defence during a period of ethnic violence.
“The state narrative labelling them as militants is a fabrication designed to justify a one-sided, disproportionate use of lethal force,” it said, adding, “This was not an encounter – it was an execution.”
The organisation further said the conferment of the Shaurya Chakra amounted to a “profound betrayal of constitutional values” and reflected “contempt for the lives of the Kuki-Zo people”.
Along with revoking the award, the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust demanded an independent investigation into the killings under the supervision of the Supreme Court.