Reina Haokip, 18, sits by her bedside and ticks the names of the medicines that she has had that day — a few multivitamins, iron capsules, and spoonsful of syrup. Haokip is at a training institute-turned-relief camp for displaced people of the Kuki-Zomi community, in Kangpokpi district, located north of Imphal in Manipur. The camp, which is surrounded by paddy fields on all sides, is now home to nearly 30 Kuki-Zomi families.
Haokip’s days are mostly spent in tending to her wounds and trying to repress the terrible memories of May 15, when she was sexually assaulted by Meiteis. On some nights, she dreams of men holding a gun to her head, and wakes up screaming. While the wounds on her skin have nearly healed, the scars within remain, she says.
Like Haokip, many women have faced sexual violence in Manipur ever since ethnic clashes broke out between the Meiteis, who dominate Imphal Valley, and the Kuki-Zomis, who dominate the hill districts, on May 3. More and more such stories have been surfacing since July 19, when a video of tribal women being stripped and paraded by a mob in Thoubal district went viral on social media.
