Kuki victim of gangrape in Manipur ethnic violence dies after nearly 3 years of struggle with injuries, mental trauma| India News

GUWAHATI/IMPHAL: A woman from the Kuki tribe who was allegedly kidnapped, gangraped and tortured in the initial days of the ethnic violence in Manipur that started in May 2023, died at a hospital in the state’s Churachandpur district earlier this month, the family of the victim confirmed on Sunday, January 18, 2026.

She was 18 years old at the time of the incident, and was working in a beauty salon in Imphal. She was allegedly taken hostage on May 15, 2023, and taken to a hilltop in Bishnupur district where she was subjected to gangrape. She eventually managed to escape.

Since the incident she was shifting between hospitals in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur getting treatment for her injuries. The victim passed away in a government hospital in Churachandpur district on January 11, her mother told HT.

“Since the assault happened, she was undergoing treatment and was in and out of hospitals. Later on, she was diagnosed with uterine fibrosis and other related complications. She fell ill suddenly at our home few days back and we had taken her to the hospital, but she passed away there,” the mother of the victim said.

Besides physical injuries because of the assault, the family mentioned that the victim was also going through deep depression and a lot of mental trauma, and had withdrawn herself. She felt worthless, said her mother.

According to the family and the FIR filed by them (which HT has seen), the victim was in Imphal when she was taken hostage on May 15, 2023, around 5 pm from an ATM kiosk in the New Checkon area by four men, who took her in a car to another locality where she was beaten up.

Later a group of Meira Paibis (members of a Meitei women group) and some local men also reached the scene and they continued to beat her up, says the FIR. The Meira Paibis allegedly called some some members of Arambai Tenggol, a radical Meitei group, and handed her over to them with instructions to kill her.

She was taken in an SUV by four men wearing black clothes and carrying guns — members of Arambai Tenggol usually wear black clothes. On the way she was continuously beaten up, and then nore beatings followed where she was taken, as per the FIR. She was then taken to a hilltop where three of the four men took turns to rape her, the FIR said.

A quarrel then erupted between the three men who raped her and the one who didn’t, on whether to kill her or not. During this, one of the four men was trying to turn the SUV and the vehicle hit the victim, who fell off the creek, said the FIR. It detailed that when she landed at the bottom of the hillock, she managed to reach a road where an auto-rickshaw driver rescued her. He reportedly took her first to Bishenpur police station and then to Imphal the same night. From there she managed to flee to Kangpokpi district (a Kuki-majority district) on May 16 early morning, as per the FIR.

First taken to the Kangpokpi district hospital for treatment, she was referred to a hospital in Kohima, Nagaland.

The FIR was filed under sections 354, 307, 364, 376, 376D, 506, 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3 of ST/SC (Prevention of Atrocoties) Act, .

The family registered the transferrable ‘zero’ FIR at the Kangpokpi police station on July 21, 2023, and it was thus transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) along with several other cases from the state related to the ethnic clashes between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zo community.

“No arrests have been made in the case as yet and we have not been contacted either by the Manipur police or the CBI to give any updates on the progress in investigation,” the mother said.

“We got some monetary compensation through the Kangpokpi district administration, but I am not sure whether it was given by the state government or Centre,” she added.

“She was a simple girl who had studied till Class 8, and her only goal in life was to open a beauty salon of her own,” she said.

A senior police officer on the condition of anonymity told HT on Sunday, “a zero FIR had been registered under section 354, 307, 364, 376 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (before Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita replaced the code), along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act”.

The officer further said the case was handed over to CBI but whether any accused involved in the case was arrested or not is yet to be ascertained.

Convenor of Imagi Meira, a Meitei women body, Th Sujata told HT on Sunday that the allegations in that case, that Meira Paibis had taken the victim hostage and later handed over to Arambai Tenggol, are “baseless and unfounded”.

“Meira Paibis have been contributing for the society since decades and they have been responsible for controlling irate mobs to prevent escalation of violence on any issue. We have protested against sexual attacks and even in the incident in which two Kuki women were paraded naked (videos of which went viral), we protested and handed over the culprits to police,” Sujata asserted.

“During the peak of the present crisis, we secured the release of three Kuki-Zo girls who were taken hostage and handed them over to the Singjamei police station for their safety,” she added.

The ethnic violence in Manipur between Meiteis, who are a majority in Imphal Valley, and the Kuki-Zo community, who are dominant in few neighbouring districts, started in May 2023. The clashes have left over 260 dead and displaced over 60,000 persons from both sides.