(Pechi Awang Leikai) Gender solidarity took precedence over ethnicity this week in India when a group of angry mothers burned down the house of men from their own clan accused of humiliating women in a viral video.
At least 120 people have been killed in nearly three months of inter-ethnic violence between the Meiteis, the predominantly Hindu dominant ethnic group, and the Kukis, generally Christians, in the state of Manipur (northeast).
But this time it was women from the Meitei community who expressed their anger against men of their ethnicity, after the broadcast on Wednesday of a humiliating video showing two Kuki women forced to undress before being mocked and harassed by a crowd of Meitei men.
India is a generally conservative and patriarchal country, but in the Meiteis community, women have a more important role than elsewhere.
On Thursday, the police arrested the first four suspects, identified from this video dated May, the authenticity of which AFP could not verify.
But on the same day, a powerful group of Meitei women gathered under the name of “Meira Paibis”, or “Mothers of Manipur”, and destroyed the walls of the houses of two of the suspects, before introducing bales of hay and setting them on fire.
“We condemn violence against women and for that we want the death penalty,” Sumati said in an interview with AFP, revealing only her first name.
Six arrests in connection with the video have been made so far, police said on Saturday, saying they are conducting “raids” to find other suspects.
“Shame on the nation”
Violence erupted in May in Manipur over the possibility of the Meitei community being granted “Scheduled Tribe” status that would guarantee them quotas for government jobs and university admissions, a speculation that further stoked fears among the Kuki that the Meiteis would be allowed to acquire land currently reserved for them.
The conflict has forced tens of thousands of people to flee to government-run camps, but the video, which went viral as early as Wednesday, sparked protests across India.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the case had “shamed the whole nation” and the state government, led by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has opened an investigation.
“Both communities condemn this event,” said Suchitra Rajkumari, 42, a local activist. “At least on one point, they agree”.
The “Meira Paibis” also accused Thangjam Lata Devi, the mother of one of the suspects, of having a “spoiled” son, before setting fire to the mother’s house.
“The defendants and their families will no longer be able to live in the village. That’s why we destroyed the house”, justified Sumati, who helped her sisters to set fire to a house.
“Protect our people”
But if these groups of women do their own justice, they also know how to protect their men.
On Saturday, some 500 women blocked roads to prevent around 100 armed police from arresting a suspect linked to the video, during three hours of clashes.
“Kill us! Take us all! the women shouted, their faces smeared in toothpaste (which they say helps protect against tear gas) and brandishing flaming torches.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ARUN SANKAR, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
On Saturday, some 500 women blocked roads to prevent around 100 armed police from arresting a suspect linked to the video, during three hours of clashes.
They claimed that the men the police wanted to arrest were not responsible, and the police came home empty-handed.
Since the start of the violence, from dawn to dusk, patrols of the “Meira Paibis” have hammered the electric poles to give the alert and blocked the way to the police, whom they accuse of being biased in favor of the Kukis.
“Our tradition is to help our people, it gives us inner strength,” Matouleibi Chanu, also a member of “Meira Paibis,” told AFP.
The army admitted having had to release twelve members of the Meiteie militia in June, after being surrounded by 1,500 women.
“We will do everything to protect our people,” Chongtham Thopi Devi, 60, another member of the “Meira Paibis,” told AFP.
However, to disperse the women, the police recognize that they cannot “use the same force as for the men,” said a senior officer, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
“We often find men hiding behind these women at protests and marches,” he says, “it’s always the women who lead.”