KANGPOKPI: The Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTu) bemoaned the untimely death of Nengtinglhing Haokip, a rape victim survivor of the 2023 Manipur conflict.
Aged about 20 years, Nengtinglhing Haokip, daughter of Seikam and Lhingnei Haokip of Kangchup was undergoing medical treatment at Apollo Hospital in Guwahati after she was allegedly gangraped in May 2023. She breathed her last on January 10.
“A resident of Chassad Avenue in Imphal East, Nengtinglhing Haokip was waylaid at Checkon on the 15th May 2023 by Meira Paibis and handed over to be gangraped by the Arambai Tenggol at Langol during the ensuing conflict. She was later rescued by a good Samaritan autorickshaw driver from a Muslim community,” CoTU said in a statement.
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CoTU stated that Nengtinglhing Haokip’s case should be a reflection of civility cutting across all communities divided, that every ounce of dignity of a woman must be preserved at all time and they should never be used as a means of tool in any given conflict but to condemn such actions.
An FIR was lodged under 354, 307, 364, 376, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code with relevant sections of the Schedule Caste/ Schedule Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, but so far, the perpetrators are scot free and hands of judiciary remains tied up, it stated.
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It maintained that the notion for political reconciliation between the warring communities without first resolving the undercurrent issue is one of the most regretful political decisions of the current dispensation at the centre.
“Nengtinglhing Haokip, who bore the silent scars of hatred and physical atrocities is yet to receive a fair justice even after 3 years. May God be with her and her family,” it added.