State and Centre Failed to Prevent Manipur Violence: Independent Tribunal

Report Based on Survivor Testimonies on Brutality, Impunity, Institutional Collapse

August 22, 2025

Members of the Kuki-Zo communities at a gathering marking one year since the violence began in Manipur. Photo by Newsreel Asia

An independent inquiry into the ethnic violence that began in Manipur in May 2023, based on survivor testimonies and first-person accounts, finds consistent failures by state institutions, security forces and political leaders. The report holds both the state and central governments responsible for failing to uphold constitutional protections and deliver justice.

The report of the Independent People’s Tribunal on the Ongoing Ethnic Conflict in Manipur, constituted by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), was released in Delhi on Aug. 20. It examined the causes, course and consequences of the ethnic violence that began on May 3, 2023 between the majority Meitei and minority Kuki-Zo communities.

The report notes several long-standing tensions that set the stage for the conflict, including historical ethnic divisions, disputes over land ownership and the political and economic marginalisation of the Kuki-Zo communities.

Tensions escalated after the Manipur High Court on March 27, 2023 directed the state to recommend Scheduled Tribe status for the Meitei community. This was seen by Kuki-Zo and Naga tribal groups as a threat to their own constitutional safeguards. The resulting protests in the tribal hill districts on May 3 that year were largely peaceful at first but triggered violent clashes that soon spread across the state.

Survivor testimonies presented to the Tribunal challenge narratives promoted by state authorities and dominant media platforms, according to the report.

For example, many Meitei deponents alleged a large influx of Kuki-Zo migrants from Myanmar. However, the jury found that this claim was not supported by available data. Another narrative linked the Kuki-Zo communities to illegal poppy cultivation, part of the state government’s “war on drugs” led by then Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. Kuki-Zo deponents told the jury that this was a targeted attempt to stigmatise their community, while others involved in the drug trade came from multiple backgrounds, including within the state administration.

Several witnesses expressed concern that the prolonged violence in Manipur may have been influenced by political or strategic motives, including geopolitical interests related to the India–Myanmar border, land control in the hill districts and efforts to consolidate political power by polarising communities. Some deponents suspected that the state government’s reluctance to act decisively, including its failure to enforce the law and restrain armed groups, was part of an agenda to alter demographic or territorial balances in favour of the Meitei community.

The jury noted a widespread perception that the state allowed the conflict to continue or actively enabled it. Former Chief Minister Singh was repeatedly named in testimonies as having made decisions that worsened the situation. The report states that radical Meitei groups, including Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun, were not held accountable and that Singh remained in office despite widespread calls for his resignation, only stepping down in February 2025.

The Tribunal documented extensive violence, including killings, torture, dismemberment and sexual assault. Many incidents of sexual violence were reportedly unregistered due to fear, trauma and lack of support. Some women who sought police protection were turned away or handed over to violent mobs. As a result, many survivors turned to their own communities for safety.

The report says relief measures for those displaced by the violence were slow, insufficient and unequally distributed. Relief camps lacked proper sanitation, healthcare and mental health support.

The jury found that recommendations from the Joint Rapid Needs Assessment and the Justice Gita Mittal Committee were mostly ignored. The fragile healthcare system, already under pressure before the violence, suffered further damage. Hospitals and clinics were attacked, supplies were destroyed, and medical staff fled. Patients in relief camps, especially women, children and people with disabilities, suffered preventable deaths due to lack of treatment. The report also documents communal discrimination in access to healthcare and severe psychological consequences, including depression, trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The Tribunal found that legal and constitutional safeguards collapsed just as they were most needed. Courts failed to issue emergency protections, police selectively filed first information reports and state security forces were reported to have participated in the violence. Investigations were either not launched or conducted in a biased manner.

No neutral Special Investigation Teams were formed. Legal oversight was weak, and witness protection was missing, the report notes, adding that even though the Supreme Court ordered Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiries into some rape cases and set up a committee under Justice Gita Mittal, the steps were limited in scope and not followed through effectively.

The jury’s recommendations centre on justice, accountability and structural reform, but there appears to be no progress toward implementing them.

It calls for a permanent bench of the Manipur High Court to be established in the hill districts to ensure access to justice. An independent Special Investigation Team should be created to examine the thousands of cases arising from the violence and investigate the roles played by security forces and officials. Those responsible for spreading hate and inflammatory content must face legal consequences.

The report also recommends that a restorative justice programme be introduced to support healing through acknowledgment of harm, reparations and reintegration, rather than relying solely on punishment. Long-term peace, the jury argues, requires constitutional adherence, political responsibility and honest public dialogue.

More than two years after the violence began, Manipur remains under strain. The report concludes that the state has become an example of institutional failure and prolonged impunity. It urges India's judiciary, Parliament and civil society to act decisively to prevent this from becoming a model for future breakdowns in governance.

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