Bodies demand befitting punishment to culprits
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, June 17 2021: Taking serious note of the alleged torture and outraging modesty of a minor girl student by a non-local named Rupesh Singh hailing from South Delhi on June 10 at Kangjabi Leirak, Indigenous People's Association of Kangleipak (IPAK) has demanded identification of all the culprits involved in the incident and awarding befitting punishment to them.

The attitude of non-locals who are taking refuge in the state towards women cannot be taken lightly and similar incidents that have happened in the past make it clear that non-locals are indulging in racial discrimination in the state and IPAK will not remain silent on this, IPAK secretary general Leishangthem Romen Meetei said in a statement and appealed to local people not to keep non-locals in rent merely for earning some money.

Apart from documents issued by police station concerned and executive magistrate, character certificate should be made mandatory while issuing ILP passes to non-locals, the IPAK statement said while maintaining that Manipur is not the land for non-locals to commit crime and police and magistrate concerned should look into the matter so that local women do not fall victim to non-locals.

It was very unfortunate that police released another suspect namely Amit Singh, who is a close friend of Rupesh Singh, and is likely to be directly or indirectly involved in the crime, IPAK lamented and demanded that proper investigation should done against Amit Singh as well.

It also said that Rupesh Singh might have committed the crime against the minor girl with the help of Amit Singh and this angle should be investigated properly by police by questioning the family who rented rooms to both Rupesh and Amit.

All Manipur Youth Protection Committee (AMYPCO) has also demanded stringent punishment to Rupesh Kumar who is accused of torturing a minor girl on June 10.In a statement released by its president L Shyam Khu- man on Wednesday, AMYPCO recounted that on June 10, a worker of TPPA Company identified as Rupesh Kumar allegedly abducted a minor girl and tortured her inside a Bolero.

Condemning the incident, the Committee also accused the owner of the rent he (Rupesh) was staying in for being money-oriented and not verifying the background of Rupesh, who is also allegedly a drug abuser.

It is possible that many such criminally minded people could be staying in rent, it said.

Thus, the Committee demanded the state government to come with a policy guideline for rent owners, adding that it was pure luck that the minor girl could be saved before anything dangerous befell on her.

Stating that the incident is a stark reminder of the threat to the indigenous population, AMYPCO demanded the police station concerned to file the chargesheet at the earlier.

It then urged the government to provide assistance to the victim and similar others like her and help them return to normal life.

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