The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has recorded an FIR to assume control over the probe into the alleged rape incident in Manipur's Thoubal area, where three women were stripped and marched naked. This month, a purported May 4 video of the two women being paraded naked went viral, causing widespread outrage across the nation. Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and IT Act, the central agency has filed a case for murder, gang rape, outraging modesty, and criminal assault.
Outrage over video
The video showing two women from one of the warring communities in the state being paraded stripped by men from the opposite side became a web sensation on July 19, bringing about an enormous ruckus the nation over on crimes supposedly being perpetrated in the northeastern state.
The video, which was widely condemned, shows the men molesting the two helpless women on a consistent basis while they scream and beg their captors to spare them the horror. According to the officials, the case was given to the probe agency on a reference from the Union home ministry.
The government had decided to give the alleged assault case to the CBI, which had already been hired to look into six cases of violence in Manipur. On May 18, the state police filed a case against unknown armed individuals for kidnapping, gang rape, and murder at the Nongpok Sekmai police station in the Thoubal district.
In accordance with its procedure, the CBI has taken over the Manipur Police's FIR as its own case. The government organisation had previously positioned its Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the northeastern state under a DIG-rank official.
The CBI will dispatch a few additional women officials, other than forensic experts, to investigate the case, the authorities said. The video was doing the rounds of social media just before a planned protest march announced by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF) to feature the plight of tribals in Manipur.
The "despicable scene, which had happened on May 4 in Kangpokpi district, shows men constantly molesting the helpless women, who cry and plead with their captors," according to a spokesperson for the ITLF, as quoted by news agency PTI.
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