After over seven months since violence erupted in Manipur, the bodies of 60 people killed in the ethnic clashes and lying in mortuaries in the state capital Imphal for more than seven months were finally airlifted to the crisis-hit state’s Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts on Thursday for a funeral.
The bodies were airlifted to Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts by two choppers from the mortuaries of the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) and Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Imphal. Of the total 60 bodies, 41 had reportedly been taken to Churachandpur and 19 to Kangpokpi district. While 19 bodies will be reportedly cremated in Kangpokpi, it is yet not clear how and where the funeral of the remaining 41 bodies will be done in Churachandpur.
The Supreme Court, on November 28 this year, directed to ensure either burial or cremation of the bodies that had been lying in mortuaries in Imphal for nearly seven months. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said that, as per a report filed by the apex court-appointed committee of former high court judges headed by Justice (Retd) Gita Mittal, the condition of the bodies lying in the mortuaries in Imphal. The bench directed the exercise to be carried out on or before December 4, 2023.
Meanwhile, the Manipur government has identified as many as nine sites for the burial or cremation of the bodies of the violence victims. During the hearing on November 28, the bench directed that funerals of the victims of violence can be performed by the family members of the deceased who have been identified at any of these nine sites.
At least 190 people have been killed, and more than a thousand people have been injured in the over seven-month-long ethnic clashes in Manipur. The clashes between the Meitei and the Kuki-Zomi communities erupted on May 3 this year after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organized in the hill districts of the state to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.