New horror story from Manipur, Kuki man killed, severed head put on spike

Amid the ongoing ethnic clashes in Manipur since May 3 and in the wake of the recent video of two women from Kuki community being paraded naked before being allegedly gangraped, a new video has also emerged showing a man's head on a spike on Friday, causing fresh outrage over the continuous barbaric incidents emerging out of the northeastern state.

In the second incident too, the victim was from the Kuki community and the attack reportedly took place on July 2, a report in the Hindustan Times said. The deceased was identified as David Theik, a resident of Lamza village in Churachandpur. ITLF (Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum) members said the victim was supposed to move to Mumbai for work but was stuck in the state due to the ongoing violence.

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“He was the only breadwinner of the family. Until the pandemic, he was working as a waiter at a hotel in Mumbai. He returned to Manipur sometime in 2020. It is unclear if he lost his job there. His family told us he was planning to go back to Mumbai but was caught in the violence. His father has physical disabilities. His mother died when he was young. He and his younger brother had to drop out of school,” a member of the ITLF named Mary was quoted as saying.

The report said Theik was keeping guard in his village when he was attacked by an armed group early morning on July 2.

Theik was reportedly shot and killed first, his body chopped and an eye gouged out. His head was then placed atop a bamboo on a fence, the report added.

Mary reportedly told the paper that Theik had managed to send a woman and her children to safety but got caught by the mob before he could himself escape on a two-wheeler with his friend.

In the first case of assault on two Kuki women, police have arrested the sixth accused in connection with the video that surfaced on July 19 showing two women being paraded naked by a mob in strife-torn Manipur.

The house of the key accused in the case was torched on Thursday.