Manipur: Autopsy Confirms Horrific Torture and Burning of Tribal Woman

IMPHAL: An autopsy report on a 31-year-old tribal woman killed in Manipur's violence-stricken Jiribam district on November 7 indicated she had endured severe third-degree torture and sustained burns covering 99 percent of her body.

The report conducted at Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Assam on November 9 described the huge body parts and limbs as missing. It said that owing to extensive charring, samples for chemical analysis couldn't be obtained. It further reports that the brain tissue was found in a liquefied and decomposed condition within a plastic wrapping.

A 33-year-old mother of three died in the afternoon after the armed militant attacked her home on November 7 in Zairawn village.

The report surmised that she had died of shock due to extensive antemortem burns from mixed flame, affecting nearly all parts of her body.

The whole body was reportedly almost burnt with few intact soft tissues. The right upper limb, parts of the lower limbs, and facial structure were very much missing.

It was noted that due to extreme charring, no vaginal smear could be drawn for microscopic study. In addition, visceral samples were unfeasible for the study as many were burnt by fire or absent. Pieces of charred bones presented no sign of vital reaction, which confirms that all separations occurred post-mortem.

The report further noted deep penetrative wounds and detected a nail made from metal plunged into her left thigh.

Meanwhile, the autopsy report showed the horrible condition of the woman's body whereby the report on the burnt and separated bone fragments could not display any vital reaction, meaning that bones had separated post-mortem. Since May last year, ethnic violence in the northeastern state has claimed over 220 lives and displaced thousands.

Here, in the reasonably cosmopolitan district of Jiribam, which had escaped the worst of the violence raging in the Imphal Valley and surrounding hills, the gory discovery of a farmer’s mutilated body in a field in June this year heralded unrest.

People in Manipur are 53 percent Meiteis, generally residing in the Valley of Imphal, while tribal communities like Nagas and Kukis dominate the hill districts with more than 40 percent.

Meanwhile, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) has proposed a statement that insists on road transport of the ten men "reportedly killed by the CRPF forces" from Silchar to Churachandpur via Mizoram after proper autopsy has been done. "We do not support other forms of transportation", stated ITLF which is signed by ten organizations, including Mizo People's Convention, Kuki Inpi Churachandpur, and Hmar Inpui which vowed to uphold this resolution.

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