Arrest of Four Men in India After Two Women Were Paraded Naked in the Streets

Indian police arrested four men after a video surfaced online showing two naked women being paraded in public on the streets of Manipur. The arrests took place on Thursday, a day after the video's release sparked public outrage across India and was condemned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Supreme Court of India. Police stated that more arrests would follow soon in this case. According to reports, Indian police took no action for 70 days after the case was filed regarding the two women, aged 21 and 42, from the minority 'Kuki' tribe in Manipur, who were gang-raped in early May, until the video went viral, pressuring authorities to arrest the four men. One of the women in the video claimed that police handed them over to a group from the majority 'Meitei' tribe, who raped them and then paraded them naked in the streets. Following the news of the arrests, a group of women from the 'Meitei' tribe set fire to the home of one of the accused. Hundreds of women also gathered on Friday in the capital of Manipur to protest the violence depicted in the video. The widely circulated footage compelled Modi, who had been under pressure from criticism, to comment after months of silence, stating that 'the entire country is ashamed of this incident.' The video also drew public attention to the violence faced by members of the 'Kuki' minority community, especially women, since the onset of ethnic clashes in Manipur in early May. More than 140 people, mostly from the 'Kuki' tribe, have died in this violence, and 60,000 have been displaced.