COMPLICIT IN THE CARNAGE

Manipuri women have historically fought tyranny and oppression, but they are now at the forefront of ethnic violence

- RABI BANERJEE

Renu Takhellambam’s husband was killed in a “fake encounter” around 15 years ago. She is president of the Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association Manipur. Through massive protests involving women, the organisation has forced the Union government to act against more than 100 extra judicial killings dating back to the 1980s, and put pressure on it to withdraw the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

But, now, the same people who supported Renu after her husband’s killing have become her tormentors. “They set my house on fire, all documents of the illegal executions burnt down, a scooter and a car also set ablaze. Just because I belong to a Paite community house in Imphal,” says Renu, struggling to control her emotions. The Paite are part of the Kuki community. Renu is a Meitei, who married into a Kuki family. Renu, who had taken Manipuri women’s issues to the United Nations, is overwhelmed by the fact that her attackers were her friends, till recently.

Did the mob have women, too? “The people who torched our house were primarily men,” she says. “But, there were women as well [in the group].” After being forced to take shelter at a relative’s house, Renu is planning to move to Delhi with her 17-year-old son to start a new life there.

But, if she leaves, what will happen to her struggle for those killed extrajudicially? “Now it is up to the women of Manipur to think of that,” she says. “I am bidding farewell for now. If peace comes back, I will return to my land.”