When will the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) be withdrawn from Manipur? When will this act leave us in peace? I would not mind leaving this evil world only if I could perform the last rites of my beloved daughter! My daughter was just a delicate girl. Why was she tortured so brutally? Why did they rape her and kill her? My sorrow swells up day after day as the innocent loving face of my daughter haunts me day and night. Such were the heart touching wail of the broken hearted mother of Thangjam Manorama (32) who was, after taken away from home, tortured, in all probability raped, and killed by the 17th Assam Rifles.
Thangjam Manorama , was the daughter of late Thangjam Birahari and Thangjam ongbi Khumanleima (60) of Bamon Kampu Mayai Leikai. When this writer met the family, the Khumanleima said with tear-filled eyes, “It was on the 10th of July 2004, just short of midnight that numerous vehicles of the 17th Assam Rifles parked around our gate. Some of the AR personnel entered our house where-in were only four of us-my daughter. Th. Manorama, my sons, Th. Dolendro and Th. Basu. The security men turned to my daughter and asked her if she was a member of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). One of the ARs slapped my daughter for her negative reply. My sons Dolendro and Basu were also beaten seriously. I still remember the blood from the ear of my son. In addition, they turned to me, an old woman, and offered me kicks and punches. I lost my sense for some moments. After a short unhappy pause she added, “In front of my dimmed eyes, they charged on my daughter with the butts of their guns. Unsatisfied with that, they poured water from her head and continued to beat her black and blue. If all happened in front of our eyes.
“After the severe beating I assisted Dolendro, the Assam Rifles tried to take away our sister. At length, they began to prepare an arrest memo on which they wrote my sisters name and address. The memo was signed by hawaldar G.D. Sureshkumar (No. 173355) and counter signed by rifleman T. Lotha (No. 173916) and rifleman Ajetsing (No. 173491) of the 17th Assam Rifles.
“It was dearly written on the memo,” said Dolendro to this writer, “that nothing illegal was found from my sister at the time of the arrest. She was arrested in normal physical condition under the suspicion of being a member of the Peoples Liberation Army. It was also deceptively written on the memo that, while conducting the search inside the house of Manoram, the A.R. personnel neither destroyed any house hold materials nor tortured any family members. Though it was against the will of the family, the AR personnel forced us to sign a ‘No Claim Certificate” Then the ARs told us to come the following morning to the 17th AR camp at Kangla and to pick up our sister Th. Manorama . They left us at around 2:30 am.
“At dawn the 11th July 2004 at about 5:30 am,” Dolendro said, “the lifeless body of beloved sister was found at Thongngaibam Chingjel near Yaipharok Maring Village situated at the Yairipok Road (which is also known as Ngarian Road). Near the dead body my sister was one hand-grenade and a Kenwood set . In the arrest memo it was mentioned that nothing was with her at the time of arrest. Now, it is subtly proved that the security men purposely but foolishly put such things as to evidence their cock and bull report. Why did they do so?” Asked the brother helplessly, ‘There were not a single empty cartridge but we found some 3 or 4 bullet wounds at the back and navel of our sister.”
“We found severe bleeding from the vagina of our sister,” said sister Th. Inao adding to the heart shocking story, ‘She was stabbed on her right thigh and left arm probably after several torturing cuts. One of her nipples was also bruised and plucked off. Such an unexplainable inhumane act. The bleeding from her private part evidently shows that my helpless sister was repeatedly raped by the Assam Rifles, because there was no evidence of gunshot wounds or stab on her private part. Really , she was raped, raped repeatedly and shot brutally!” insisted Th. Inao.
‘Till now we are lamenting against the deaf ears, though fate has taken our sister, we have decided not to perform her rituals, which is a must for us, until and unless AFSPA is repealed .” Repressing her tears, she added,’ We can’t bear this. Leaving her necessary rites undone is really torturing us silently. Her soul may be wandering here and there, around us. Being her family, we in heart want to perform her rituals.”
“My daughter was a young delicate maiden”, added the bereaved mother who had been crying, “Why did they take her honour? Why did they spoil her virginity? For what reason did they torture her? Why? Why did they kill her?” She cried beating her breast, “I can’t forget the loving face of my daughter. Her smiles are still alive in my mind. Her memories enliven the burning sorrow in my heart. I cannot stop my tear when I see friends in their festive costumes. The photos of my daughter, P. Chittarajan, K. Memita and Jamkhoet Khongsai, which have been at our gate for four years, are now voicelessly praying in the midst of dust. Sometimes, may be contemptuous securitymen or mischievous drunk fellows displace the photos. Such things will go on if the rituals of my daughter is not performed. The only desire left in my broken heart is to perform her rites and leave this world peacefully following the unfortunate soul of my daughter.”
Thangjam Manorama (32 yrs) was born on 25th December 1971. She passed class ten (matric exam.) from Irillbung High School and further completed graduation (BA)from Kumbi College. She assisted her poor family by weaving silk. She earned a little from her hard toil and helped the family’s daily needs but many days were spent with empty stomach. Th. Modon is the eldest son. Manorama, being the second child, is succeeded by sister Inao, brother Dolendro, another sister Ibemcha and the youngest brother Basu. Against the cruel murder of Manorama many civil organisation of Manipur, altogether, launched a general strike through out the state. Manipur Forward Youth Front (MAFYF) called state wide general strike from the midnight of July 12 till the midnight of July 14. Other organizations, the All Manipur Women Social Reformation and Development Samaj, Macha Leima, HERICOUN etc. actively supported the state wide strike.
What happened on the next day after the end of the bandh, July 15,2004 surprised and shocked the world. In the morning at around 10:15 am, Twelve women out of nowhere, stormed at the western gate of the 17th Assam Rifles Kangla and in an unprecedented act, of protest shed their clothes and challenged the security forces to rape them. Facing the AR gate with their bare bodies, they shouted to the Assam Rifles, “If you really have the craze to rape, come rape us’ They raised banners where was written in bold letters, “INDIAN ARMY RAPE US,’ INDIAN ARMY TAKE OUR FLESH.”
That was an unexpected consequence of the custodial murder of Th. Manorama after rape. More than 50 women from different women’s organizations of Manipur came from G.M.Hall and among them, 12 naked bodies marched on to the Kangla gate and cried against the killing of Manorama , “You dogs of AR! Come rape us like you raped meitei chanu (women) Manorama”. They wailed. They shouted, “We are all mothers of Manorama. We stand for our daughter Manorama. Come fulfill your lust. Play on our body. Eat our flesh. Come Indian Army. They continued their complaint against AFSPA will slogans, GO BACK INDIAN ARMY. Withdraw the Armed Forces Special Power Act 1958 from Manipur! “
The protest of the women continued for about 45 minutes. Due to excessive emotion, more than half of them fell unconscious . Being surprised, some AR personnel watched the scene dumbfounded. They stood spell-bound. The scene broke the heart of the passers by. People even shed tears and closed their eyes.
There was no policeman when the women protesters sprang from no-where and staged their tear-provoking scene. Some minutes later, police officials along with Imphal west SP scolded the police officers for there were no women police. Disregarding the polices effort to carry the fainted women, the protesters used private vehicles to take them to hospitals. The women then tried to launch the same protest in front of the Chief Minister Bangaloo. Police arrested some of the protesters and dropped them at the gate of the office of the All Manipur Women Social Reformation and Development Samaj (AMWSRDS0 situated at the palace gate.
As precautionary measures to control the possible drastic situations, the Manipur Government imposed indefinite curfew from 11am of the same day in Imphal East and West district. The D.C. Imphal West also issued orders under section 19 of The Cable Television Network Regulation Act, 1995, prohibiting the transmission of any particular programme including news items. As a result of the unexpected announcement of curfew people in and around Imphal Bazar madly ran here and there Under Commission of Enquiry Act 1952 (60 of 1952) the state government appointed a team to investigate on the murder of Th. Manroama .
Normal life was severely affected by the general strike called by several civil organizations, which was again supplemented by curfew from the side of the government. Even though curfew was imposed by the state government at the 7 Assembly segment area of Imphal, mobs and serious protests raised in corners of Imphal and the greater Imphal area. Police fired thousands of rubber bullets and the sky was covered with dense smoke from the rain of tear gas shells used by the police to control the angry people. People also pelted stones and used catapults against the police. Sounds of rubber bullets, tear gas, mock bombs and blank fire turned Imphal city like a war field.
There were casualties on both sides. The protest continued for several days. Civil organizations held meira (torch) rallies. Nights were lit by numerous women holding meiras and shouting slogans. Anger rose as police stopped the rallies and lathi charged on those who came out on streets during curfews hours.
C. Upendra Singh, Retd. District and session Judge, Manipur was the president of the Commission of enquiry. The purpose of the COE was to identify the AR personals who were involved in the rape and murder of Th. Manorama and to take up steps to avoid such incidents in future. The enquiry team took a spot report from Yaipharok Maring Village, from where Manorama’s breathless bloody body was found. They have also repeatedly interrogated the family members of the deceased. But, in spite of all there, the commission failed to disclose the truth behind the case of Manorama. It is crystal clear that the government and the Army have intentionally kept the case under lock and key.
The Union Minister of India also made several efforts to lull the annoyed public of Manipur from Manipur, but so far no action has been taken up to satisfy the public. For the complete removal of this act, the civil organisations of Manipur re-organised themselves and formed the Working Committee of Apunba Lup. The representatives of this combined lup (Association) met the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and a positive response was given with a promise to replace AFSPA with another act.
On 30th July, people from all direction rose for a mass rally. Clashes between the police and protesters happened at different corners. Hundreds of protesters were hurt. The Mass rally, which was organized by Apunba Lup of 32 organisations, was blocked by the CRPF, RPF(Raped Action Force), Imphal West and East Commandos, IRB and Manipur Rifles. Many were taken hurt to RIMS and JN Hospital. Casualty departments were filled with injured protesters.
On August 15, at 10 am, Pebam Chittrarajan made another historic protest by burning himself at Bishnupur Bazar. His breath left him on 16th August in the hospital. K. Memita from Lamlai also died due to over bleeding as she was hit with bullet on the leg.
Following P. Chittaranjan’s incident, five members of MAFYF burnt their legs with kerosene oil at the gate of the Chief Minister’s bangalow. Commando buried themselves in driving away protesters who organized dharna (sit-in-protests) and rallies at local clubs. Not only this, the police entered the local colonics and shot tear gas and rubber bullets to threaten the public. In such incidents, one senior reporter of the Sanaleipak Daily Paper, Thiyam Richard Ranjan was beaten black and blue, right at the courtyard of his own house by 2nd MR men. Against the uncivilized act of the 2nd MR, journalist fraternity members, protested in front of the Chief Minister’s bungalow and demanded that the personnel who raised arms against a reporter should be terminated immediately. They added, in their complaint, that AFSPA which has made the security men wild animals should be removed.
The lifeless body of Manorama had been in the RIMS morgue for many days. After post-mortem, her body was cremated by the government at the Minuthong crematorium, declaring the body an unclaimed one. The cremation was without the consent of the family members. The district magistrate issued an order to the Irilbung police O.C. at 5:30 pm to turn the dead body to ashes. The cremation was done with stern security precautions around Minuthong area. But still, the family members are eagerly waiting for the complete removal of the AFSPA from Manipur for the necessary rituals of Manorama to allow the soul to race heaven peacefully. Who will hear the silent prayer of the heart broken mother? Who will stop the tears of bereaved brothers and sisters?
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