In a deeply heartbreaking turn of events, Laisharam Herojit, a relief camp inmate from the Meitei community in Manipur’s Jiribam district, has confirmed that his family has been executed by suspected Kuki militants. Speaking in a barely audible, slow voice, Herojit told NDTV over the phone, “It is true,” acknowledging the worst possible fate for his loved ones.
Herojit’s two children, wife, mother-in-law, wife’s sister, and her son were taken hostage by the militants on Monday during an encounter between the Kuki insurgents and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in the town of Borobekra, located near Assam’s border. The family members were held captive and later executed.
Tragically, the partially decomposed bodies of Herojit’s 60-year-old mother-in-law and his two-and-a-half-year-old son were discovered floating in a river near Jiribam. Eyewitnesses reported that the young boy’s headless body was found lodged between broken tree branches, with his arms missing. The semi-naked body of the boy’s grandmother was also found, face down in the river.
The boy, L Chingheinganba, and his grandmother, Y Rani Devi, had been taken hostage at gunpoint, along with four other family members, during the violence that erupted between the Kuki militants and the CRPF. On Friday evening, three bodies — Herojit’s eight-month-old baby, his wife’s sister, and her eight-year-old daughter — were brought to a hospital morgue in Assam’s Silchar. However, the body of Herojit’s wife is still missing, though government officials have confirmed the deaths of all six family members.
The violence that led to the family’s death began on Monday when a group of at least two dozen Kuki militants launched an attack in Jiribam’s Borobekra. While one group took civilians hostage, the other group went on a spree of vandalism and arson. The CRPF engaged in a fierce gun battle with the insurgents, resulting in the deaths of ten militants. However, the militants, in the process, reportedly took civilians as hostages, leading to the execution of Herojit’s family.
The tragedy has sparked widespread outrage, and protests broke out in the state capital, Imphal, on Saturday morning. Demonstrators, furious over the government’s inaction and the lack of timely communication regarding the hostages’ fate, targeted the homes of ruling BJP MLAs and attempted to storm Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s official residence. Protesters are demanding accountability from the government for not launching a rescue operation or informing the public sooner.
The situation in Manipur has been increasingly volatile. Violence in Jiribam started on Thursday when suspected Meitei insurgents attacked a Hmar tribe village, killing a woman. Civil society groups from the Kuki tribe have accused the Meitei insurgents of staying silent about the attack and the subsequent escalation. The day after, another tragedy struck when a woman from the Meitei community was shot and killed, allegedly by Kuki militants while working in a paddy field in Bishnupur.
These developments come amidst ongoing ethnic strife between the Kuki tribes and the Meitei community, which has been simmering since May 2023 over disputes related to land rights and political representation. The violence between the two communities has claimed many innocent lives and left a trail of devastation.
Political leaders from across the spectrum have condemned the killings of women and children in Manipur. Ramdas Athawale, the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, termed the act as terrorism and demanded severe punishment for the perpetrators. Former Chief Minister of Manipur, O Ibobi Singh, has also expressed his readiness to resign along with other MLAs if it would help resolve the ongoing crisis. He criticized the state and central governments for their failure to restore law and order, emphasizing that the breakdown of constitutional systems lies at the heart of the crisis.
The violence between the Kuki tribes and the Meitei community, now over a year old, has reached a new level of brutality with these recent events. The tragic deaths of Herojit’s family highlight the deepening wounds of this conflict, and while calls for justice grow louder, the situation in Manipur remains tense with no clear resolution in sight.
(WITH AGENCY INPUTS)
