SF atrocities recalled at Anti-Repression Day observance
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, July 15 2024: Commemorating the unprecedented nude protest staged by 12 mothers at the western gate of Kangla Fort on July 15, 2004 few days after Thangjam Manorama was apprehended by security forces and her body lifeless body dumped at a hilltop after alleged rape, Anti Repression Day was observed on Monday at Manipur Dramatic Union, here.

The observance function was attended by retired district & sessions judge Aribam Noutuneshwari Devi as chief guest and Anti Repression Day Observation Committee chairperson Khangenbam Anandi as president while PANDAM president Yumnamcha Dilipkumar, COCOMI coordinator So-morendro Thokchom and UPF Manipur advisor advocate Laishangbam Jadu were present as resource persons.

Addressing the gathering, Noutuneshwari said that numerous cases related to crime against women and children remain pending without trial at criminal courts in Manipur thereby depriving justice to families of the victims and the society.

She said that crime against women is no more crimes on individuals but social crime and accordingly there will be no peace and tranquillity in a society unless efforts are made to prevent social crimes.

Maintaining rule of law is most essential for checking crime against women, she said and stressed the need for delivering prompt justice to women and children victims.

While comparing the response of the government of India to the rape and murder of Thangjam Manorama by Assam Rifles under the immunity granted by Armed Forces Special Powers Act and that of the infamous Nirbhaya rape case in New Delhi, Noutuneshwari charged the government of India of the past as well as present of step motherly treatment to Manipur.

As Mothers of Manipur were peeved with such ill-treatment they took the extreme decision to stage nude protest in front of Kangla gate, she recounted and attributed relocation of headquarters of an Assam Rifles battalion from Kangla to the protest staged by 12 mothers on July 15, 2004, subsequently commemorated as Anti-Repression Day.

Speaking at the solemn event, Committee chairperson Khangenbam Anandi recalled massacre of many innocent people by Indian soldiers in Manipur after imposition of AFSPA.

She said that Thangjam Manorama was arrested picked up from her house by Assam Rifles on July 10, 2004 night and left abandoned after rape and murder the next morning at a spot not far from her house.

Discontented with the excessive action of security forces, 12 mothers of Manipur staged the nude protest at Kangla gate on July 15, she inferred.

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