The special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has framed charges against six accused in the case of stripping of three women and alleged gang rape of two of them in May 2023 during the caste conflict in Manipur.
These six accused have been charged with 15 charges including gang rape, murder and rioting. The court of Special Judge Chatra Bhukan Gogoi has fixed January 16 as the next date of hearing in the case, and all the accused, including the four who are lodged in Manipur jail, will have to appear before the court in person on that date.
The other two accused are out of jail on bail. The special court framed 15 charges against the accused in the order passed on January 2, a copy of which is available with ‘PTI-Bhasha’.
The case pertains to the incident of violence that broke out after a mob on May 4, 2023, in which three victims were stripped and paraded around and two of them were allegedly gang-raped, while the family members of one of the victims were murdered.
The incident came to light much later after a video went viral on social media. The order said, ‘…this court, after considering all aspects including the statements of witnesses and documents, has come to the conclusion that there is sufficient prima facie evidence against all the accused.’
After this, charges were framed against each accused person under penal provisions under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 as well as the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Under various sections of the IPC, the accused have been charged with murder, gang rape, assault on a woman with intent to disrobe or use of criminal force, rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon, promoting enmity between two groups, Meitei and Kuki and destruction of residential houses.
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