Bishnupur: At least 14 persons, including four women, were arrested in Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Tuesday after a video of them being involved in mob violence went viral on social media.
According to reports, the incident took place at Kha Potshangbam in Bishnupur district on Sunday, in which a man and woman were assaulted and, later, forcefully made to undergo ‘Keinya Katpa’, or forced marriage, after locals caught them red-handed together.
Thirty-three-year-old Laishram Naocha Devi and 30-year-old Khundongbam Kamalkumar Singh were reportedly having an illicit affair which led the mob to conduct a ‘Keinya Katpa’ by way of putting ‘bottle garlands’ on them, police sources said.
The locals, in a video footage that has now gone viral, were also seen wrongfully restraining and physically assaulting the eight-year-old daughter of the woman.
The arrested men and women involved in the Kha Potshangbam mob violence were produced before the chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Bishnupur and have been remanded to police custody for seven days for further investigation, reports said.
During the police interrogation, it was also revealed that members of the ‘moral police’ who had manhandled the couple and a minor girl belonged to Upokpi Khunou and Kha Potshangbam areas.
“We arrested three people today and another 11 on Monday after an incident on Sunday where a man and a woman were restrained and assaulted. In the video, we found that the daughter of the woman was also manhandled and assaulted. So we charged the arrested persons under the juvenile justice (care and protection) act,” said Bishnupur SP Priyadarshini Laishram.
“The state government will not tolerate such inhuman mob justice and six culprits have been arrested till now. More will be booked under the law of the land,” Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh also wrote on his official Facebook page.
Meanwhile, according to sources, the Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has also appealed to the state government to immediately promulgate an ordinance to prevent the culture of mob violence in the state, days after reports of Kha Potshangbam mob violence.
