Two more old videos of women burning add to Manipur’s horror

GUWAHATI: A freedom’s fighter’s 80-year-old widow was burnt alive in her home in Manipur on May 28, while an old video of a burnt woman reported in TOI and other media outlets resurfaced on social media, adding to the series of disturbing events unfolding in the strife-torn state.
These reports followed the surfacing of a video on July 19, showing two women being stripped, molested and paraded naked by a mob on May 4, a day after ethnic violence erupted in the state.That footage triggered condemnation across the country and in Parliament.
The Manipur International Youth Centre (MIYC) has drawn attention to the gruesome death of Sorokhaibam Ibetombi. The elderly woman was found burnt inside her house in Serou village of Kakching district, after the perpetrators locked all the doors from outside.
Her late husband, S Churachand Singh, was a freedom fighter and he was honoured by APJ Abdul Kalam when he was President. “No political leader, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, bothered to express a single word of sympathy when the aged and helpless woman was burnt alive even though her husband was a recipient of the All India Freedom Fighter Tamrapatra Award,” the MIYC said.
The violence-hit state grappled with yet another horrifying event as an old video of a semi-burnt woman has resurfaced on social media.
The video, which was initially circulated on May 19 and reported in various media outlets, depicts the aftermath of the attack on Pheitaiching village in Kangpokpi district on May 6.
In the video clip, village pastor Thianna Vaiphei Sauntak provides a harrowing account of the violence, revealing that the 45-year-old widow and mother of two was not only hit and her throat slit, but also burnt.
“On May 7, along with Gorkha Regiment and Andro police, we went to retrieve the body. At the spot we can testify that she was not merely hit and slit but her legs, hands and head was already burnt,” the pastor is seen saying.
The victim was identified as Thiendam Vaiphei, who had lost her husband a decade ago.
The pastor described her as a good mother with a strong moral character.