A 20-year-old woman from the Kuki-Zo community, who was gang-raped during ethnic violence in Manipur in May 2023, died on January 10, 2026, due to complications aggravated by the trauma she endured. She had been kidnapped and assaulted during clashes between the valley-dominant Meitei community and the hill-dwelling Kuki tribes, which had left over 260 people dead and nearly 50,000 displaced.
The woman, a resident of New Checkon Colony in Imphal, had stepped out to withdraw money from an ATM when four men abducted her and handed her over to armed assailants. She was taken to multiple locations in Imphal, including Wangkhei Ayangpali and Langol, where she was sexually and physically assaulted before being abandoned in Bishnupur. She managed to escape with the help of an autorickshaw driver and received initial treatment in Manipur before being shifted to a hospital in Guwahati.
Despite filing an FIR in July 2023 under Sections 354, 307, 364, 376, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, no arrests were made in the nearly three years since the attack. Her family said she never recovered from the trauma, which severely affected her mental and physical health.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) and other community organizations held candlelight vigils in her memory, condemning the failure of the system to provide justice. The Kuki Women’s Union (KWU) stated, “Justice delayed in this case is not just justice denied, it is humanity denied.”
