Mob shielded by women burns down houses, school in Manipur

An armed mob, with women acting as human shields, burnt down at least 10 houses and a school at Torbung Bazaar area in Manipur’s Churachandpur district on Saturday (July 22), firing and hurling bombs, police said on Monday.

On the other hand, the picture of an RSS functionary and his son was being circulated on social media, alleging that they were directly involved in the parading of two women naked on May 4.

RSS member lodges complaint

Manipur Police on Sunday (July 23) night registered an FIR against unidentified people for the picture posted by some people on social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook.

In a statement, Manipur Police said its Cyber Crime Police Station (CCPS) had received “a report from a functionary of a political party that a picture of him and his son collaged with a screenshot of the viral video of two women paraded, along with a caption that they were directly involved in the crime, was uploaded on various social media platforms.”

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“A case is taken up at CCPS for spreading false news with intent to cause injury, damage to his reputation and create serious breach of law and order,” the statement added. Police said that attempts were being made to identify and arrest the culprits.

Churachandpur attack

On Saturday, at least 10 abandoned houses and the Children Treasure High School building were burnt down by armed miscreants at Torbung Bazaar area in Churachandpur district bordering Bishnupur district. The mob, led by hundreds of women who purportedly acted as human shields, fired several rounds and locally made bombs during the attack on Saturday evening, police said.

“We hesitated to return fire when we saw the attackers approaching, as the mob was led by hundreds of women. However, after we saw them trying to snatch a vehicle of the BSF and start burning our houses, we realised the need for retaliation,” a local, who did not want to be named, told PTI.

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The mob allegedly also tried to take away a Casper vehicle of the BSF, but the attempt was foiled by retaliatory fire from the force and the local volunteers deployed in the area.

(With agency inputs)