1. The United States on Sunday said it was deeply concerned over the sexual assault of Kuki women in Kangpokpi district of Manipur, Reuters reported. A US State Department spokesperson said that the incident was “brutal” and “terrible”. Washington conveyed its sympathies to the survivors, the spokesperson added, according to Reuters. On July 19, a video showing two Kuki women being paraded naked by a mob in the Kangpokpi was widely shared on social media. Three women, including the two who were seen in the video, were sexually assaulted on May 4. One of them was “brutally gang-raped”, according to a police complaint.
  2. The Manipur Police have identified 12 to 14 persons seen in the video of the Kangpokpi sexual assault, The Hindu reported. Six persons, including a juvenile, have been arrested so far in the case. The police filed a first information report on May 18 but made the first arrest only last week after the video surfaced. According to The Hindu, the police have detained over 13,000 persons in preventive custody over the past two weeks to rein in the ethnic violence between Kuki and Meitei communities that has been raging since early May. More than 150 persons have been killed and over 60,000 displaced in the violence.
  3. The Manipur Police on Sunday registered a case against unidentified persons for circulating a post on social media, alleging that two of the men seen in the sexual assault video were members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, PTI reported. Fact checkers pointed out that the claims were false and that the men in the alleged inaccurate post were a Bharatiya Janata Party leader and his son.
  4. In fresh violence in Churachandpur district, at least one woman received bullet wounds, 10 houses were abandoned and a school was set on fire, NDTV reported on Monday, citing the police. A gunfight between suspected militants and the security forces that started on Saturday night continued till the early hours of Monday.
  5. The Delhi Police on Sunday denied permission to a civil society organisation to hold a solidarity meeting in the city, PTI reported. The police said that the meeting in the CR Park area by the Conference For Human Rights against the ethnic violence in Manipur could have created a law and order situation.
  6. On Monday, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the rest of the Monsoon Session amid a face-off in Parliament between the government and the Opposition over the violence in Manipur. The Opposition parties want a comprehensive statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament.
  7. As outrage grew over the sexual assault, Modi broke his silence on Manipur on Thursday, 77 days after violence broke out in the northeastern state. However, he only addressed reporters outside Parliament and took no questions.  
  8. The Monsoon Session of Parliament, which commenced last week, has witnessed two days of logjam on the matter. On Monday too, both the Houses of Parliament were adjourned till 2 pm.