The Crossbill News Desk
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on August 20 released the findings of the Independent People’s Tribunal on the Ongoing Ethnic Conflict in Manipur at the Press Club of India, New Delhi.
The 694-page report, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph, delivers a stark conclusion: “The violence which erupted on May 3, 2023, was not spontaneous but planned, ethnically targeted, and facilitated by state failures.”
The Tribunal, set up by PUCL in 2024, was composed of a jury of eminent figures deliberately chosen from outside Manipur to ensure neutrality.
Along with Justice Kurian Joseph, the jury included former judges K. Kannan and Anjana Prakash, retired bureaucrats M.G. Devasahayam and Swaraj Bir Singh, academics Uma Chakravarti and Virginius Xaxa, human rights defenders Manjula Pradeep and Henri Tiphagne, and journalist-author Aakar Patel.
Over 150 survivors gave oral testimony, while thousands of others submitted written accounts or participated in group discussions. Their voices, the jury wrote, “paint a picture of systemic impunity and targeted brutality.”
The report documents that more than 60,000 internally displaced people continue to remain in relief camps “with no end in sight, even after 27 months of violence.”
The Tribunal traced the roots of the conflict to long-standing ethnic divisions, political and social marginalisation, and contentious land disputes. These fault lines, it said, were aggravated by “systematic hate campaigns and political rhetoric” that deepened mistrust between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities.
A major flashpoint was the March 27, 2023 Manipur High Court order recommending Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Meiteis, a directive that sparked fears among tribal groups such as Kukis and Nagas that their constitutional protections would be undermined.
“The judgment acted as a catalyst,” the report observed, “setting off state-wide protests on May 3, which quickly descended into targeted violence.”
The Tribunal also challenged two narratives that dominated political discourse – that Kukis were “illegal immigrants” from Myanmar and that they were driving poppy cultivation.
“Both claims were found to be exaggerated and politically weaponised,” the jury noted, “serving to demonise the community.”
Survivor testimonies formed the core of the report, exposing the scale of brutality.
“We saw killings, mutilations, disrobing of women, and sexual violence on a large scale,” one section recorded. Women recounted instances where the police failed to protect them and in some cases, “handed them over to mobs.”
Hate propaganda, especially on social media, was said to have played a central role in fuelling the violence, while partisan print coverage deepened divides.
The collapse of relief and healthcare measures compounded the suffering. Camps lacked basic sanitation, food, and medical facilities, while hospitals were attacked, staff fled, and patients were denied treatment along communal lines.
The report highlighted “serious mental health consequences – trauma, PTSD, and depression – with no institutional interventions in place.”
The Tribunal’s findings were equally damning about the breakdown of law and order. It said FIRs were filed selectively, investigations delayed, and security forces were accused of active complicity. The state government was criticised for failing to create impartial Special Investigation Teams, while the Centre too was blamed for “enabling impunity and worsening ethnic divides.”
Even the Supreme Court’s interventions were found inadequate, with the report stating that “The Gita Mittal Committee and limited CBI probes were narrow in scope, poorly resourced, and lacked follow-up.”
In its recommendations, the Tribunal urged the creation of a permanent bench of the high court in Manipur’s hill districts to ensure equal access to justice, along with an independent Special Investigation Team to probe thousands of pending cases, including those involving security forces.
It stressed the need for strict prosecution of hate speech, a framework for restorative justice including reparations and survivor reintegration, as well as stronger relief measures and sustained community dialogue.
“The people of Manipur deserve more than piecemeal measures,” the report declared. “Without a systemic response, peace cannot return.”
Two years since the violence began, the Tribunal warns that the situation remains bleak. Survivors have repeatedly testified that “the state either allowed the violence to happen or actively enabled it.”
The report ends with a stark caution: “if accountability is not enforced and impunity allowed to persist, Manipur could become a dangerous precedent; a template for future instances of state complicity in ethnic violence.”
The 694-page report, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph, delivers a stark conclusion: “The violence which erupted on May 3, 2023, was not spontaneous but planned, ethnically targeted, and facilitated by state failures.”
The Tribunal, set up by PUCL in 2024, was composed of a jury of eminent figures deliberately chosen from outside Manipur to ensure neutrality.
Along with Justice Kurian Joseph, the jury included former judges K. Kannan and Anjana Prakash, retired bureaucrats M.G. Devasahayam and Swaraj Bir Singh, academics Uma Chakravarti and Virginius Xaxa, human rights defenders Manjula Pradeep and Henri Tiphagne, and journalist-author Aakar Patel.
Over 150 survivors gave oral testimony, while thousands of others submitted written accounts or participated in group discussions. Their voices, the jury wrote, “paint a picture of systemic impunity and targeted brutality.”
The report documents that more than 60,000 internally displaced people continue to remain in relief camps “with no end in sight, even after 27 months of violence.”
The Tribunal traced the roots of the conflict to long-standing ethnic divisions, political and social marginalisation, and contentious land disputes. These fault lines, it said, were aggravated by “systematic hate campaigns and political rhetoric” that deepened mistrust between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities.
A major flashpoint was the March 27, 2023 Manipur High Court order recommending Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Meiteis, a directive that sparked fears among tribal groups such as Kukis and Nagas that their constitutional protections would be undermined.
“The judgment acted as a catalyst,” the report observed, “setting off state-wide protests on May 3, which quickly descended into targeted violence.”
The Tribunal also challenged two narratives that dominated political discourse – that Kukis were “illegal immigrants” from Myanmar and that they were driving poppy cultivation.
“Both claims were found to be exaggerated and politically weaponised,” the jury noted, “serving to demonise the community.”
Survivor testimonies formed the core of the report, exposing the scale of brutality.
“We saw killings, mutilations, disrobing of women, and sexual violence on a large scale,” one section recorded. Women recounted instances where the police failed to protect them and in some cases, “handed them over to mobs.”
Hate propaganda, especially on social media, was said to have played a central role in fuelling the violence, while partisan print coverage deepened divides.
The collapse of relief and healthcare measures compounded the suffering. Camps lacked basic sanitation, food, and medical facilities, while hospitals were attacked, staff fled, and patients were denied treatment along communal lines.
The report highlighted “serious mental health consequences – trauma, PTSD, and depression – with no institutional interventions in place.”
The Tribunal’s findings were equally damning about the breakdown of law and order. It said FIRs were filed selectively, investigations delayed, and security forces were accused of active complicity. The state government was criticised for failing to create impartial Special Investigation Teams, while the Centre too was blamed for “enabling impunity and worsening ethnic divides.”
Even the Supreme Court’s interventions were found inadequate, with the report stating that “The Gita Mittal Committee and limited CBI probes were narrow in scope, poorly resourced, and lacked follow-up.”
In its recommendations, the Tribunal urged the creation of a permanent bench of the high court in Manipur’s hill districts to ensure equal access to justice, along with an independent Special Investigation Team to probe thousands of pending cases, including those involving security forces.
It stressed the need for strict prosecution of hate speech, a framework for restorative justice including reparations and survivor reintegration, as well as stronger relief measures and sustained community dialogue.
“The people of Manipur deserve more than piecemeal measures,” the report declared. “Without a systemic response, peace cannot return.”
Two years since the violence began, the Tribunal warns that the situation remains bleak. Survivors have repeatedly testified that “the state either allowed the violence to happen or actively enabled it.”
The report ends with a stark caution: “if accountability is not enforced and impunity allowed to persist, Manipur could become a dangerous precedent; a template for future instances of state complicity in ethnic violence.”
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