A special CBI court in Guwahati has framed charges on 15 counts, including gang-rape and murder, against six accused in the Manipur ethnic violence case involving the stripping and sexual assault of three women in May 2023.
The order was passed by special judge Chatra Bhukan Gogoi on January 2, with the next date of hearing fixed for January 16, when all six accused have been directed to appear in person before the court.
Four of the accused are currently lodged in a Manipur jail, while two others are out on bail. The court has ordered all of them to be present “without fail” to sign the charges framed against them.
The case relates to an incident of mob violence on May 4, 2023, during the ethnic clashes in Manipur, when three women were stripped and paraded naked. Two of the victims were allegedly gang-raped, while family members of one of the women were killed.
The incident came to light weeks later after a video of the assault surfaced and went viral on social media, triggering nationwide outrage and renewed scrutiny of the violence in the state.
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In its order, the court observed,“...this court, after considering all the pros and cons, including statements of the witnesses and documents, comes to unerring conclusion that there is a prima facie material against all the accused.”
Accordingly, charges were framed under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The court noted, “The particulars of the charges, on being read over and explained, accused persons pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.”
Among the IPC charges are offences of murder, gang-rape, assault or use of criminal force on a woman with intent to disrobe, rioting, being armed with deadly weapons, promoting enmity between two groups, Meiteis and Kukis, and destruction of dwelling places.
The accused have also been charged under multiple provisions of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, including disrobing an SC or ST person and parading naked SC or ST women.
Issuing directions for trial, the court stated,“and I hereby direct that you all be tried by this court for the said charges. Particulars of the charges, on being read over and explained, the accused persons pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.”
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