A video of a 31-year-old tribal man, which was made shortly before he was beheaded and set ablaze on the boundary of Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts of Manipur on July 2, emerged on social media on Saturday.
A police official told The Hindu that they were analysing the video and that no arrests had been made in the case so far.
In the video clip, the man identified as David Tuolor, is seen being slapped and asked about his ethnic identity. A group of men wearing black clothes and camouflage trousers asks if he belongs to the Hmar community. The faces of the men are not visible.
When Tuolor replies that he grew up among the Kom community, he is slapped and asked again if he is a Hmar, to which he replies in the affirmative.
The same day Tuolor was found murdered in his village, Chinglangmei, in Churachandpur district. The severed head was put on display on a bamboo fence and the body had been burnt.
According to a complaint filed on August 1 by his father, Lalkhumlien, with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), a group of men, suspected to be members of the vigilante groups Aarambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun, led by the State police reached Chinglangmei and started looking for Kuki-Zomi-Hmar tribal people. Tuolor, who was home, was caught by the group after which he was tortured to death, the complaint read.
While the Zo ethnic tribe comprises the Kuki-Zomi-Hmar community, the Koms are one of the smallest tribal communities in Manipur.
Three Meitei men were also killed on the same day, The Hindu had reported. Heisnam Balram Singh, Superintendent of Police, Bishnupur, had said that around 12.05 a.m. on July 2, bunkers set up by the villagers near Khujuma Tabi, a Meitei village, were attacked by armed miscreants.
He said following the incident, a large number of agitated people came out and stormed the nearby Kuki-Zo villages in Churachandpur district.
Local people took the three bodies to Kumbi MLA Sanasam Premchandra Singh’s residence. Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had also visited the area the same day.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), however, had said then that the Kuki-Zo tribal villages were attacked first.
While the hill district of Churachandpur is dominated by the Kuki-Zo community, Bishnupur in the valley is Meitei-dominated. The inter-district boundary or the “buffer zone” has seen frequent clashes between the two communities since violence erupted in the State on May 3. At least 175 people have been killed across the State since May 3 when ethnic violence between the Kuki and Meitei communities erupted in the State.
