An autopsy on the body of a 31-year-old tribal woman, murdered in Manipur’s Jiribam district, has uncovered horrific signs of torture before her death. The woman, a mother of three, was reportedly subjected to severe abuse by militants from the Imphal Valley before being allegedly raped and her house set on fire, according to sources.
The FIR filed by her husband accuses the militants of “brutally raping” the woman, looting their home, and setting 17 houses ablaze in Zairwan village on the night of the attack. The autopsy, conducted at Silchar Medical College in Assam, could not confirm the rape due to the extensive burns that left her body almost entirely charred, making it impossible to collect any viable samples for analysis.
The autopsy report revealed that 99% of her body had been burned, including bone fragments. It noted multiple injuries, including a wound on the back of her right thigh and a metallic nail embedded in her left thigh. Parts of her arms, legs, and face were also completely destroyed by the fire. The report suggests that the woman was alive during the brutal torture, before the militants allegedly raped her and set her house on fire.
Due to ongoing ethnic violence in the region, Manipur Police explained that the woman’s remains were sent to Silchar for examination, as transportation through National Highway-37 was too dangerous to navigate.
The tragic killing has sparked outrage from Kuki-Zo tribal organizations, which have condemned the act as “barbaric” and called for swift action to identify and arrest the perpetrators. The Indigenous Tribes Advocacy Committee has demanded urgent intervention from the central government to protect the Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribes. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITFL) has warned that failure to apprehend the killers could lead to further unrest.
The murder of the woman, a mother of three, has sparked a wave of violent clashes in Jiribam district since November 7. Just two days later, armed militants killed a Meitei woman farmer in a paddy field in Bishnupur district, located in the Imphal Valley. On November 11, three people, including a Naga, were injured in separate militant attacks across Imphal East and Bishnupur districts.
This recent surge in violence comes after a brief lull in the ongoing ethnic conflict, which has already claimed over 260 lives and displaced more than 60,000 people across the region.
