A seven-year-old boy, his mother and his aunt were burnt alive by a mob in India’s north-eastern Manipur, which has been gripped by a month of deadly ethnic violence.
The child, identified as Tonshing Hangsing, was being taken to hospital in Imphal by his mother Meena Hangsing, in her 40s, and aunt Lydia Lourembam to treat a bullet injury, when they were attacked by a mob on Sunday.
The three had taken shelter at a military camp in the Kangchup district after violence broke out on May 3 between two ethnic groups, the largely Hindu Meiteis, and the Kukis, who are mostly Christians.
There have been fierce clashes over a contentious government proposal to list the majority Meitei community as a tribe.
Close to 100 people have been killed in the strife with around 40,000 displaced in the state, in violence that has seen armed members from both sides attacking each other’s communities.
The child was injured after being hit by a bullet during an attack by suspected Meitei militias on Sunday in the camp of a paramilitary force known as the Assam Rifles, where several Kuki families had taken refuge.
One bullet also hit Ms Hangsing’s hand.
As the child’s condition was critical, the women – both Meitei Christians – decided to rush him to a government-run hospital in the capital city – a Meitei stronghold.
The ambulance was escorted by police personnel and the Assam Rifles militiamen, but as they reached the Iroisemba area, they were allegedly stopped by Meira Piabis, a women-led civil society movement.
The mob, roughly 2,000 strong, alleged that the ambulance was used to ferry Kuki militants before they went on a rampage, attacking police and setting the ambulance on fire – with Tonshing, Meena and Lydia still inside.
“We are in shock. We thought that because Meena and Lydia are Meitei women, they would not be attacked,” Champi Hangsing, a relative of the victims, told The National.
“They [the mob] found out that Tonsing’s mother is from the Kuki dominant area and screamed 'We have caught a Kuki'. Due to their blind anger, they did not distinguish that she was a Meitei,” he said.
“There were no such barriers before. She had been married for 10 years to a Kuki, there was no difference. The division has been created by the Chief Minister.”
Manipur, a mountainous region bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh, is governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Tribal divisions
About 34 ethnic tribes, making up 40 per cent of the population, have traditionally inhabited hilly areas that comprise 90 per cent of the land.
The Meiteis, who form more than half of the population, dominate the valley areas but are confined to 10 per cent of the state's land.
They have long demanded the community be included on an official list of tribes, giving them access to buy and settle on land in hilly areas. Under law, such rights remain available to only officially recognised groups like the Kukis.
Tribes such as the Kukis and Zomis have expressed their opposition, claiming that the Meiteis already dominate the demographic, political and social landscape of the state.
Over a dozen of Manipur's 16 districts are affected by the violence amid a month-long internet ban across the region.
The mob attack took place less than a week after Home Minister Amit Shah visited the state and assured that peace would be restored.
Mr Shah warned that if “the central government doesn’t put presidential rule in Manipur, thousands of people will die,” suggesting the north-eastern Indian state should come under direct government rule.
