The woman’s alleged rape and murder, a mother of three, led to a series of violent clashes in Manipur’s Jiribam district since November 7.
The autopsy report of a 31-year-old tribal woman, who was killed in Manipur’s conflict-torn Jiribam district, revealed signs of third-degree torture before she was allegedly raped and her house was set on fire, The Times of India reported.
The FIR registered by the police in Jiribam quotes her husband alleging that she was “brutally raped” by armed militants from the Imphal Valley. The miscreants also plundered her house and set 17 homes ablaze in the Zairwan village that night, the report said.
An autopsy performed on the woman’s body by Assam’s Silchar Medical College could not ascertain if the woman was raped, as her charred remains ruled out any chances of collecting a vaginal smear.
The Times of India report notes that the woman was found with 99% of her body, even bone fragments, charred. The autopsy notes “a wound in the back of right thigh” and a “metallic nail embedded in the medial aspect of the left thigh.” The report also noted that “the right upper limb, parts of both lower limb, and the facial structure are missing.”
The autopsy findings reveal that the woman was alive when she was subject to brutal torture. After torturing her, the militants allegedly raped her and set her home on fire.
The Manipur Police said her remains were sent to Silchar instead of the state capital, Imphal, as it was “very much inconvenient to transport the body by road via National Highway-37 due to ongoing ethnic crisis” in the northeastern state.
