It takes only twelve women to make a point, and to make it unforgettably. About 40 Manipuri women gathered before the headquarters of the Assam Rifles’ 9 Sector in Imphal, of whom twelve stripped to the skin and called out to the army to come and rape them. The posters they displayed were equally terrifying, with the blood red letters on a white background accusing the “Indian army” of rape and torture. The immediate cause of this explosive protest was the alleged torture and killing of Thanglam Manorama by army personnel on Sunday. But it was also an expression of pure fury at the military forces’ continued violation of human rights, against which the many women’s organizations in Manipur have been protesting for a long time. But there was nothing unplanned about the procedure. Ms Ramani Devi, the secretary of the All Manipur Social Reformation and Development Samaj, said that the women had decided to take this step as their protests against extra-judicial killings and molestation of women in Manipur had gone unheeded.

A spectacle of naked women with loosened hair standing before the great gates of an army base, yelling at the military forces to come and rape them is both terrifying and humbling. That it was planned as an extreme step is indication of an unspeakable agony that could only be given organized expression by the public presentation of the naked female body. For these women, the body, which made them and their daughters vulnerable, had itself turned into a weapon. By exposing it, they wished to expose those they felt had humiliated and degraded them. Manipur has a long tradition of women’s groups fighting against social evils like alcoholism as well as violence and injustice. Their struggle is for development and harmony in the midst of bloodshed, uncertainty and deprivation. While it is not surprising that a form of protest unprecedented in the country should first come from them, it should also be recognized that Manipur’s is a traditional society. So it is not just the courage, intelligence and dignity of the women that should be acknowledged, but also their feeling of immeasurable humiliation and injustice.

Their demand was for a public trial of the guilty. This is particularly relevant in a state where the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 is operative. This law gives enormous powers to security forces. In order to “maintain the public order”, they can arrest, search, detain or kill anyone on the basis of suspicion, and no investigation of their operations can be carried out by civil authorities without permission from the Centre. Protests against human rights violations in the north-eastern states under the purview of the AFSPA have a long history. Ms Irom Sharmila Shanu, for example, has been fasting for three and a half years, demanding that the AFSPA be repealed in Manipur. She has been kept alive by force-feeding. It seems incredible that security forces should open themselves to such allegations, since the militants they are fighting could find the people’s anger useful. It is only with an agenda against violence and for social development that such manipulation can be beaten, and it is again the women’s groups which are leading that effort in Manipur.