Supreme Court warning and Prime Minister's silence
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The Prime Minister has finally broken his silence on the violence in Manipur that has been raging for more than two months. PM Narendra came out with a strong was against the sexual assault and public parading of two women stripped in Manipur that shocked the world. "My heart is filled with pain and anger. The Manipur incident has shamed the entire humanity and 140 core people of the country are feeling ashamed. I appeal to all chief ministers to strengthen laws to take stringent action against crime," he said. The incident in the video circulated by the attackers themselves took place in the month of May. The video shows a group of men stripping and parading two Kuki women naked through a crowd and gang-raping them in broad daylight. The state's ruling BJP leaders have changed from their customary justification-counterattack strategy to one of seriousness in an effort to win over the public. Condemning the incident, Union Minister Smriti Irani tweeted that she had discussed the matter with the Manipur Chief Minister who had assured her of a probe being conducted into the incident. On Thursday morning, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the incident. Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that they were deeply disturbed by the incident and could not accept the use of women as instruments to perpetuate violence. Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta were called before the court on Thursday morning and notified of the Supreme Court's response, given the gravity of the situation. Using women as an instrument of violence in communal conflict zones is the grossest of human rights violations. The court enquired as to what actions had been taken to apprehend the culprits since May and what steps had been taken to ensure that it wouldn't happen again. The apex court said it will give the government some time to act and will step in if no action is being taken. The court will hear the matter next Friday along with a batch of cases related to the Manipur violence.
The reports coming out of the state confirm the allegation that the state government has not taken any effective action in Manipur where the riots have been going on for over two months. A victim revealed that in the current gang rape incident, the Police was present at the crime scene but they did not help them. The state government estimated in the Supreme Court that the violence committed by the Meitei against the Kukis, who are primarily Christians, resulted in 142 deaths and 17 people missing. In the early stages of the conflict, at least 250 churches were destroyed. The general conclusion is that the state government either failed miserably or was deliberately inactive in dealing with the riots. The Hindutva BJP took over the North Eastern states by gaining the support of primarily the Christian community. Where this was not possible, the MLAs were replaced after the elections and the government was installed to appease the local minorities. On the other hand, Congress and its allies have been accused of appeasing Muslims and playing vote bank politics. Following this, the Sangh Parivar forces have spread enough evil propaganda to inflame Muslim hatred among Christians in states like Kerala. Even the leadership of the Christian church, which fell prey to that trap, was compelled to acknowledge the role of the Hindu forces in the attacks in Manipur under the BJP's shadow.
Even though the riots were discussed in the international media, the prime minister, who is in charge of the country, was silent about it. In addition, it did not stop him from taking part in numerous programmes of significance on a global scale or from going for the launch of the Vande Bharat trains, an innovation of the Indian Railways. Now, in accordance with the Supreme Court's own order, the central government and the state governments must inform what has been done regarding the worrying Manipur situation. Perhaps, the number of security personnel deployed, the list of curfews and the measures taken to stop the spread of speculation by cutting off the internet will be explained before the court. Apart from that, can the Centre explain what it has done to remove insecurity among the people and mitigate the bigotry and what positive steps it has taken to counter the protests against the move to extend reservation to the Meitei community in the guise of a court order? People are yet to hear what is 'Manipur Ki Baat' instead of 'Mann Ki Baat'. Meanwhile, they are looking forward to what effective measures are taken to restore law and order.
