Autopsy reports of three of the six Meitei relief camp inmates, whose abduction and murder had triggered widespread protests in Imphal Valley, have revealed bullet wounds on their bodies.
According to sources, the post-mortem reports belonged to 60-year-old Yurembam Rani Devi, her 25-year-old daughter Laishram Heitombi Devi and her three-year-old grandson Laishram Chingkheinganba Singh.
The reports revealed five bullet wounds on the body of Rani Devi (in the skull, thigh, abdomen, arm and chest), two on her daughter Heitombi (both on the chest) and one on her grandson (in the face). There are other injury marks on their bodies as well.
The reports, however, did not specify the cause of death, which can be concluded once the chemical analysis report of the viscera is received from the Directorate of Forensic Sciences at Kahilipara in Guwahati. The reports of Rani and her grandson stated that their approximate time of death was between three to five days while that of Heitombi was seven days.
Officials neither confirmed nor denied the post-mortem reports.
The bodies were recovered from the Barak river in Cachar district of Assam, some parts of which border Jiribam district in Manipur from where the deceased hailed.
The post-mortems were conducted at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Cachar on November 17 (Rani and Chingkheinganba) and on November 19 (Heitombi).
The other three deceased are Telem Devi, 31, her daughter Telem Thajmanbi Devi, 8, and Heitombi’s eight-month-old son Laisram Langamba Singh. Their bodies were recovered from the Jiri river on the border between Jiribam and Cachar. Telem Devi is the eldest daughter of Rani Devi.
All six, who were buried amid tight security in the presence of family members on November 22 in Jiribam, were inmates of the relief camp housed in the Borobekra police station in the district.
They went missing on November 11 around the same time a group of armed militants attacked the police station and a CRPF post located nearby. In retaliatory firing, 10 suspected militants belonging to the Kuki-Zo community were killed, the police had said.
However, Kuki-Zo organisations claim the 10 deceased men were “village volunteers” who were out defending their ancestral land from armed Meitei groups.
The abduction and murder of the six relief camp inmates triggered widespread protests in Imphal Valley, leading to the closure of schools and colleges, suspension of Internet, imposition of curfew and attacks on the houses of 13 legislators on November 16.
The state government on Saturday evening issued an order to keep schools and colleges closed on Monday and Tuesday. On Saturday afternoon, it had ordered the resumption of classes from Monday.
Schools have been closed in Manipur since November 17 owing to the protests against the killing of the six relief camp inmates.
Memorandum to UN
Seven Manipur-based organisations on Sunday submitted a 10-page memorandum to the UN secretary-general with copies to its interrelated agencies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and international human rights bodies, seeking “immediate justice for the premeditated murder” of the six relief camp inmates “by Kuki militia”.
The killings cannot be viewed “as an isolated act of cruelty inflicted by the Kuki militia in pursuit of a sectarian ethnic agenda. Instead, it must be recognised as part of a broader reign of terror unleashed by the Kuki-Zo armed militia, operating with impunity under the guise of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with the Government of India since 2005”, a statement issued by the organisations said.
The seven organisations are Yelhoumee Phurup, Taragi Cheishu, Solidarity Offered Unitedly for a Lustrated Society, Youth Collective Manipur, Nupi Union for Peace and Integrity, Manipur Students’ Association Delhi and the Manipur International Youth Centre.
