17 years since their naked protest, ‘Mothers of Manipur’ say fight not over yet

Simrin Sirur
On 15 July, eight imas—or mothers in Meitei—from across Manipur commemorated the 17th anniversary of a protest that shook India and transformed the State forever. Three of them held a quiet ceremony in Imphal to mark the day, with two imas joining the event in spirit, their garlanded photos propped up on a table in a corner.
The remaining two of the 12 imas who participated in the protest were too sick to join. A day after the observance, one of them succumbed to her illness.
On 15 July 2004, these 12 imas had disrobed in front of the historic Kangla Fort in the heart of Imphal—then the headquarters of the Assam Rifles—carrying banners with messages painted in red. “Indian Army Rape Us”, read one. “Indian Army Take Our Flesh”, said another.
The women were protesting against the brutal killing of Manorama Thangjam, a 32-year-old woman who had been picked up by Assam Rifles personnel in suspicious circumstances earlier.
Manorama’s bullet-riddled body—with gunshot wounds to her private parts and thighs—was found near a paddy field hours after she was taken away from her home.
Semen stains reportedly found on her clothes in a forensic exam suggested she had been raped. A judicial commission set up to look into the case painted a scathing account of torture that Manorama allegedly suffered in her final hours.
The case proved a flashpoint in Manipur, where anger against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958 —which allows use of force in certain situations in disturbed areas—was already pervasive. At the time, activist Irom Sharmila was already four years into a hunger strike against AFSPA that would last until 2016.
AFSPA was used sporadically in the hill districts of Manipur to tackle insurgency before being imposed across the whole State in 1980. Resentment against the security forces’ alleged excesses began as early as 1974, when a local woman named Rose committed suicide after she was allegedly raped by a BSF officer who faced no action for the suspected crime.
“Since 1974, the imas’ hearts were overflowing with sorrow. With every murder, rape, abduction, our hearts sank further,” Ima Gyaneshwori, 71, one of the Kangla Fort protesters, told ThePrint, sitting on a couch at her home in Imphal.
“When Manorama happened, we couldn’t take it anymore. It had already been 24 years of struggle. Something within us broke,” she added.
The protest, whose anniversary is observed by activists in the State as ‘Anti-Repression Day’, brought the world’s gaze to alleged military excesses in the State and the number of extrajudicial killings in Manipur has fallen since. But justice for Manorama and 1,528 other victims—who were either killed or went missing in similar circumstances—remains elusive, and the AFSPA is still in place.
As age and disease take a toll on their strength, the imas —known widely as the “mothers of Manipur”—hope the fight will continue beyond their generation.    
Among the 2004 protesters, Ima Momon died on 16 July, succumbing to Covid-19 after a long battle with the illness. Ima Ramani, 92, is sick with Covid-19 as well. The two women photographed and garlanded at the ceremony, Ima Loitam Ibetombi and Ima Mutum Ibemhal, died in 2012 and 2018, respectively.
While Gyaneshwori suffers from diabetes, she insists it is manageable.
“They (those who died) should be remembered as freedom fighters, who fought for this Nation, and who proved that anything can be done for our people. The fight isn’t over.”
The making of a protest
Footage from the 2004 protest shows the women taking off their clothes in front of the Kangla Fort, and shouting “Rape us!” while beating their chests. An enraged Ima Nganbi, now in her 70s, makes it a point to shout “We are all Manorama’s mothers. Rape us, kill us”, in English (“a language the world and the Army would understand”, she told ThePrint).
The idea of the protest was hatched a day before, on the sidelines of a meeting of civil society organisations.
“There was a meeting with the Apurna Lub (a body consisting of 32 civil society organisations) on 14 July 2004 to figure out what to do and how to protest against Manorama’s rape and murder, but the deliberations were endless and I was becoming impatient,” Ima Anandi, a retired school teacher, told ThePrint.
Ima Anandi, 72, who founded a women’s rights organisation called Macha Leima at age 14, is regarded as one of the “masterminds” who organised, supported, and planned the protest.
“The women were sitting in a separate room, and I went to join them. I broached the idea of protesting naked, and my thought was, what is the point of wearing clothes when we aren’t treated with any dignity ?” Anandi said. “They agreed. The idea of this protest could never have come up when we were in discussions with the men.”
No one was informed of the imas’ decision. The women went home, but didn’t tell their families.  
“I couldn’t sleep the night before. I stayed at a relative’s house. I was consumed by thoughts of how we could do more for Manorama. For me, I didn’t think twice about participating nude,” Anandi said.
Ima Gyaneshwori said she “secretly” sought blessings from her husband, touching his feet when he asked where she was going early in the morning on 15 July. “I couldn’t risk telling him. So, I bent to touch his feet, and, in my mind, asked for empathy, understanding and forgiveness after the protest was over.”
Although the protest was a spectacle, the quiet defiance of what went behind it—of not informing the men, not informing their families, and taking complete agency of their bodies—is why Anandi felt it was the best thing to do.
“I think it didn’t sit well with the other organisations that we went over their heads. But look what happened,” she told ThePrint.
Among the most significant outcomes of the imas’ protest has been the return of the Kangla Fort to the Manipur Government, in 2005.
“Things have changed radically since 2004. Extrajudicial killings have come down and are now almost non-existent after peaking around 2009,” Babloo Loithongbam, director of the Imphal-based NGO Human Rights Alert, told ThePrint.
The imas are still active in civil rights movements, but have also shifted their focus to a variety of other causes.
“The women are still active in the public space, and several are involved in the anti-drug movement in the State. Ima Ramani, who is now sick with Covid, was deeply involved,” said Loithongbam.
Then and now
For all the results they have received, the women said they have had to chart a difficult path in the years since.  
In Bishnupur district, Ima Lourebam Nganbi, out of breath and sweating profusely, grabbed a small fan and placed it in front of her. Nganbi was diagnosed with diabetes a few years ago. Most of her life, she said, she has participated in movements defending human rights.
(To be  contd)