New Delhi, July 20: Welcoming the Supreme Court’s suo motu action against the barbaric incident of parading naked and gang-rape of two women and murder of the brother of the gang-rape victims who sought to save her after all of them being snatched from police custody at B Phainom village in Kangpokpi district on May 4, the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) stated that “the Government of India instead of taking action against the war criminals is shooting at the messenger”.
The “messenger” that RRAG was referring to was Twitter. “Without Twitter, the truth would have never come out, and no law and order problem has been created by these videos which forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak for the first time on Manipur in the last 77 days of riots, ” It said in a statement,
Though the FIR was lodged on May 4, only around 11 pm on July 19,the Manipur Police tweeted that, “All out effort to arrest culprits as regard to the viral video of 02 (two) women paraded naked and on 4th May, 2023, a case of abduction, gang rape and murder etc was registered at Nongpok Sekmai PS (Thoubal District) against unknown armed miscreants and the investigation has been started.”
“In the light of the admitted inaction of the Manipur Police in the 76 days (two and half months), no fair investigation can be expected from the Manipur Police and its tweets are merely to assuage the outrage expressed across the country against the savage incident and not to establish accountability for the war crimes committed. Furthermore, this barbaric incident has not been referred to any other agency for investigation,” said Suhas Chakma, Director of the RRAG.
“The faith in the rule of law has collapsed because of the inaction in the last 76 days on this particular savage incident and other violations of international humanitarian laws, silence of the Union of India including the Prime Minister till this incident and no update from both the CBI and the Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice (Retd) Ajay Lamba regarding the progress of the investigations. In the light of the registration of the suo motu case by the Supreme Court, there is no justification for the continuation of the Chief Minister N Biren Singh,” he added.
