Manipur parading: 7th accused held; FIR over fake news on Myanmar video

Another accused was reportedly picked up from Manipur’s Thoubal district on Monday (July 24) in connection with the horrific incident on May 4 in which two women were paraded naked and sexually assaulted, taking the total number of arrests to seven.

Manipur Police stated in a Facebook post on Monday: “7(seven) accused persons including 1(one) Juvenile Arrested/Apprehended in the Viral Video Case: As regard to the viral video of 02 (two) women on 4th May, 2023, another accused was arrested today. Altogether, 07 (seven) accused persons including 01 (one) juvenile have been arrested/ apprehended in the case so far. The State police is making all-out effort to arrest the remaining culprits by conducting raids at many suspected hide-outs.”

The sickening incident happened way back on May 4 and an FIR was lodged after about a couple of weeks. However, it was only after the video emerged on social media on July 19 that the police woke up and arrested the prime accused the very next day, following it up with three more arrests later the same day.

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Police said the first arrested person — Huirem Heradas Singh (32) — was seen prominently directing the mob at B Phainom village of Kangpokpi district in the 26-second video. Infuriated villagers set the Singh’s house on fire and have reportedly ostracised his family.

A fifth accused was arrested on Saturday and he is aged 19, while the sixth person taken into custody is a minor, according to the police.

The Manipur Police has also registered an FIR for spreading fake news. In another Facebook post, they said the Cyber Crime Police Station (CCPS) has registered a case “in connection with the viral video of a woman being assaulted and killed by a mob, including armed men (which happened in Myanmar), which has been falsely depicted as a case of Manipur”.

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The post adds that an attempt is being made “to identify and arrest the accused persons for spreading false news with intent to disturb public tranquillity, incite riot, and create serious breach of law and order in the State”.