For many nights over the past month, Manipur has been witnessing torch light processions in the valley districts, with the mostly women marchers demanding among other things an end to mob violence directed at those accused of crimes.
Over the last few years, at least three persons in Manipur, and two in neighbouring Nagaland, have been victims of mob lynchings.
The apprehension of local mobs rendering vigilante justice has even forced the police to spirit away a woman and a man from Manipur. The duo, who are accused of killing a police inspector in order to steal his vehicle, have been placed in the custody of the police in Nagaland, at an undisclosed location, while they await trial.
Pishakmacha, a middle-aged woman activist said, “We demand an end to mob crime in this State.”
Renubala, a young housewife from Thoubal district who is also participating in the marches said, “A man is not guilty unless a court says so. The government should prevent such mob trials and the beating to death of people. The family members of the accused persons also end up being banished from the locality for ever.”
Chief Minister N. Biren, who also holds the Home portfolio, had recently said that the State government had set up a fast track court keeping in mind “the gravity of the issue.” The aim was to ensure that persons accused of rape-cum-murder were convicted within a few months. He cited the case of a tribal youth in Manipur’s Senapati district, who had been convicted in July for raping and murdering a young girl and sentenced to death.
