Were two Indian soldiers beaten to death in Manipur after they were found molesting women? Know the truth. 

Another video from Manipur is now going viral on social media. In this video, a group of women can be seen shouting and chasing two Indian army soldiers in a field. Social media users are claiming that in a recent incident, 2 Indian soldiers were found molesting local women working in the fields. This incident triggered violence and those two soldiers were beaten to death.

However, Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. Although the video is of an incident from Manipur, it does not involve any case of molestation or killing of soldiers.

What’s the claim?

Sharing the video, a social media user wrote, “2 Indian Army soldiers were beaten to death in Manipur when they tried to molest a group of women who were working in the nearby fields.”

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Fact Check-

A Google Reverse Image Search led us to the same video uploaded on FAcebook on 2 January 2024. According to the information, this incident took place in Wanggoo Sangang Rapeleipak region. The women in the video belong to the Meira Paibi group and the Meitei tribe. In this video, they were heckling and chasing away the army personnel.

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A relevant Google keyword search led us to a report published by The Sangai Express on 4 January 2024. According to the report, an FIR was filed by Manipur police against the Meira Paibis women on 2 January after they were found chasing away soldiers of Mahar Regiment at Ithai Loukon region. A protest was also carried out opposing the FIR and the effort of the police to arrest the women involved in the incident.

Two soldiers entered the region where the women were tending the field. The security personnel were asked by them to leave the region but they kept delaying and showed rude behavior. This led the women to chase them away.

In another report, it was stated that the women of the Meira Paibi group of Ithai Loukon region chased away soldiers of Mahar Regiment on 2 January while protesting against the deployment of central security forces in the area. They were not happy with this deployment of security forces as the region was not affected by ethnic violence, A FIR was filed against the women involved in the incident which led to a three day protest to revoke the complaint.

From the above two reports, it is clear that the video of the incident is from Manipur but there was no case of killings or molestation.

Further, Fact Crescendo contacted a member from the Meira Paibi group. We were informed, “No one had been killed in the incident. What really happened is that most of the Meiteis had lost trust and faith in the security forces. They feel that the security personnel are pro-Kukis. So when the women saw them patrolling, they tried to chase them and their other team out of that region.”

Conclusion:

Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. Although the incident took place in Manipur, there were no killings or molestation. The Meira Paibi women were not happy with the deployment of the security forces in that region and they were chasing them away.