Manipur violence: Assam's SMCH hands over bodies of nine victims to families

Imphal/Silchar, Nov 22 Assam's Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) on Friday handed over the bodies of nine victims of Manipur violence to their families.

L Uttam Singh, family member of one of the victims, said that he received the six bodies from the SMCH and was taken to Manipur by road.

On November 11, six victims were kidnapped in Manipur's Jiribam district and later killed by the militants.

The SMCH authority also handed over the bodies of three more victims to their families on Friday. They were also killed in separate violence in Manipur.

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) representing the families of the victims of the killings in Jiribam on Thursday has announced its decision to claim the bodies of the deceased lying in SMCH.

JAC Convenor Shyamkumar Mutum said that the state government has given them assurances to address their demands which include punishing the perpetrators.

The state government already "discontinued" the service of Senior Superintendent of Police Nectar Sanjenbam, who is accused of firing in Jiribam district on November 17 killing Kh. Athouba, who participated in a protest against the abduction and killing of three children and three women in the district.

The state government also constituted a two-member inquiry committee to probe the circumstances surrounding the November 17 incident.

Mutum said that the JAC also received confirmation from the government regarding the provision of suitable government jobs for the families of the deceased, along with ex-gratia payments.

On November 11, according to the Manipur police, during an encounter with the CRPF and the militants in the Jiribam district, 10 suspected Kuki "militants" were shot dead.

Though the Manipur police said that the ten slain people were Kuki militants, all the tribal organisations including the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum (ITLF), an apex body of tribals in Manipur, claimed that they were "Village Volunteers".

On the same day, three women and three children belonging to the Meitei community had been kidnapped by suspected militants from a relief camp in Borobekra Sub division in Jiribam district and their bodies were subsequently recovered near the confluence of the Jiri and Barak rivers along the Manipur-Assam border.

The bodies were brought to the SMCH for post-mortem examinations.

The Manipur government earlier this week requested the Centre to hand over three cases of killings to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The cases include the killing of six innocent Meitei women and children in Jiribam, the death of a Hmar tribal woman who was burnt to death on November 7 in Jiribam and the killing of a Meitei community woman farmer in Saiton in Bishnupur district on November 9.

After the news spread about the recovery of six bodies in Jiribam, around two dozen houses of ministers, MLAs and political leaders were attacked and vandalised by mobs in several districts, especially in Imphal East and Imphal West districts on November 16 and 17.

A police official in Imphal said that 32 persons who were part of the mob indulging in ransacking and arson of the houses of ministers and MLAs have been arrested so far from Imphal East, Imphal West and Bishnupur districts and some arms and ammunition, mobile phones have been recovered from their possession.