SW News: The Supreme Court of India said on Thursday, July 20, it is deeply disturbed over women being used as instruments for perpetrating violence. This came after a video showing two women from one of the minority communities in the restive state of Manipur being stripped by a mob and then molested was circulated on social media.

After the video, which was recorded in May, created a furor across India, a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud asked the federal and Manipur governments to take remedial measures and apprise it of the action that was taken.

The video circulated on social media was a sign of gross constitutional violation and violation of human rights, said the Supreme Court bench which also comprised Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Mishra. "We are very deeply disturbed by the videos which emerged yesterday about the way those two women were paraded in Manipur," they said.

The Chief Justice of India said that was time the government took action as such incidents are unacceptable. "We will give a little time to the government to act, otherwise we will take action if nothing is happening on the ground," he said.
The bench said, "The court is deeply disturbed by the visuals which have appeared in the media since yesterday depicting the perpetration of sexual assault and violence on women in Manipur. What is portrayed in the media would indicate gross constitutional violations and infractions of human rights. Using women as instruments for perpetrating violence is simply unacceptable in a constitutional democracy.”

The court also said that affidavits shall be filed by the Union Home Secretary and the Chief Secretary for the State of Manipur regarding the action taken." The bench said it is conscious of the fact that the video, which appeared on Wednesday, was of May 4 but that makes no difference.

In the northeastern state of Manipur, ethnic violence is rife for the past three months and more than 100 people have lost their lives while thousands have been forced to flee. Scores of churches and Church-related institutions have also been destroyed in the clashes between the Hindu-dominant Meitei community and the mostly Christian Kuki tribals.

It was on Wednesday that the video dating to May 4 surfaced. It was circulated on social media on the eve of a protest rally announced by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum.