Experts at the United Nations raised an alarm on Monday regarding the reports of serious human rights violations and abuses in the Northeast State of Manipur in India, including alleged acts of sexual violence, extrajudicial killings, home destruction, forced displacement, torture and ill-treatment. Experts pointed at an 'inadequate humanitarian response' in the wake of the grave humanitarian crisis in the state. However, India has strongly rejected these comments while terming them “unwarranted, presumptive and misleading.” India further said that the situation in the Northeast State is peaceful.
The Permanent Mission of India told the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva that, “The Permanent Mission of India completely rejects the news release as it is not only unwarranted, presumptive and misleading but also betrays a complete lack of understanding on the situation in Manipur and the steps taken by Government of India to address it."
In the note verbale issued on Monday to the Special Procedures Branch of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Indian mission underscored that the situation in Manipur was peaceful and stable and the Indian government was committed to taking requisite steps to maintain peace and stability.
Rejecting the news release by the Special Procedure Mandate Holders (SPMH) titled ‘India: U.N. experts alarmed by continuing abuses in Manipur’, the Permanent Mission of India expressed disappointment and surprise that the SPMHs chose to issue the press release without waiting for the 60 days period for the Indian government to respond to a joint communication issued on the same topic on August 29, 2023.
The Indian mission expressed hope that in the future, the SPMH would be “more objective” in their assessment, based on the facts.
It hoped that the SPMH would “refrain from commenting on the developments, which have no relevance to the mandate given to them by the Council and abide by the established procedure for issuing news releases and wait for inputs sought from the Government of India before doing so.”
The Indian mission reiterated that India is a democratic country, with an abiding commitment to the rule of law and to promoting and protecting the human rights of our people. "Indian law enforcement authorities and security forces are committed to dealing with law-and-order situations strictly in accordance with the principles of legal certainty, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination,” it said.
UN in a statement earlier said, "By mid-August 2023, an estimated 160 persons had reportedly been killed, mostly from the Kuki ethnic community, and over 300 injured. The conflict also reportedly resulted in tens of thousands of people from the communities being displaced, thousands of homes and hundreds of churches being burnt down, as well the destruction of farmland, loss of crops and loss of livelihood."
Referring to (among other incidents) the video of two Kuki women being sexually assaulted in public, the experts said they were “appalled by the reports and images of gender-based violence targeting hundreds of women and girls of all ages, and predominantly of the Kuki ethnic minority. The alleged violence includes gang rape, parading women naked in the street, severe beatings causing death, and burning them alive or dead."
The International body further said that the experts are alarmed by the reported misuse of counterterrorism measures that were used to legitimise acts of violence and repression against ethnic and religious minorities.
According to the statement, the experts said that the recent events in Manipur were another 'tragic milestone' in the steadily worsening situation for the aforementioned communities in India.