KOHUR slams Manipur government’s reports to NHRC, calls them 'misleading and legally deficient'

The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) has submitted a detailed and critical final representation to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), alleging that the Action Taken Reports (ATRs) filed by the Government of Manipur and state police provide an incomplete and distorted picture of the ongoing ethnic conflict in the state.

Filed under Case No. 3/14/0/2025, the submission accuses the authorities of ignoring institutional breakdowns, concealing ethnically targeted attacks, and failing to prosecute widespread atrocities committed against the Kuki-Zo community since violence erupted on May 3, 2023.

KOHUR alleges that the ATRs rely on selective data, frequently use “N/A” as a response to crucial inquiries, and overlook investigative delays as well as Supreme Court directives regarding accountability, compensation, and rehabilitation.

The representation cites multiple interventions by the Supreme Court—including its August 2023 observation of an “absolute breakdown of law and order and machinery of the State”—alongside findings from UN bodies, Amnesty International, and the 2025 PUCL Independent People’s Tribunal.

KOHUR further claims that critical submissions by the Justice Gita Mittal-led Supreme Court Committee—comprising 37 reports documenting stalled investigations and victim vulnerability—have been excluded from the ATRs.

The Trust lists several high-profile cases it says demonstrate the gravity of crimes and a pattern of impunity:

The assault on BJP MLA Vungzagin Valte on May 4, 2023, resulting in permanent paralysis, with no arrests to date

Sexual violence and murders of Kuki-Zo women including Olivia Chongloi and Florence Hangsing

A seven-year-old boy, Tongsing Hangsing, burned alive with family members near Iroisemba

The killing of Income Tax officer Letminthang Haokip, whose charred remains were recovered in Imphal

According to KOHUR, over 60,000 people—predominantly Kuki-Zo civilians—have been displaced, and thousands of homes and religious institutions have been destroyed. It asserts that relief camps remain overcrowded and multiple district hospitals in hill districts are barely functional.

The organisation also highlights unaccounted weapons looted from state armouries, alleging that sophisticated arms have empowered militant groups operating freely in the valley.

Emphasising that coexistence has become impossible under the present administration, KOHUR notes the continued demand of 10 Kuki-Zo MLAs for a separate Union Territory with legislative powers—positioning it as a constitutional safeguard rather than a separatist stance.

The Trust has urged the NHRC to take decisive steps, including rejecting the current ATRs, initiating an independent judicial inquiry into alleged state complicity, providing stronger institutional protections for Kuki-Zo communities, ensuring victim compensation and hospital infrastructure, and establishing secure transport and humanitarian access in conflict zones.