6 injured after mothers of Manipur attacked by authorities at Ima Keithel protest

Guwahati, February 10, 2019:

Shocking scenes unfolded earlier in the evening at the Ima Keithel market in Imphal today at approximately 5:20 pm. Woman protestors, who had set up camp at the site to demand the scrapping of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, were fired upon with tear gas and mock bombs by the authorities which left six women injured. The injured women have been rushed to RIMS hospital in Imphal.

Truly tragic photographs showing the injured protestors have emerged on social media. Is this truly the state of affairs in our country, where democratic protests will be stomped upon by the cold hard sole of the Government’s boots?

With this show of violence against mothers of Manipur, it is clear that we are living in the dystopian society imagined by George Orwell in his seminal masterpiece ‘1984’, where right is wrong and wrong, right. We can further conclude that this will only make the resolve of the indigenous people stronger in their fight against the ‘Citizenship Bill.’