Strife-torn Manipur sees 3,000 crime incidents against STs in ’23: NCRB

Strife-torn Manipur witnessed a stupendous 3,000-times increase in incidents of crime and atrocities against people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (STs) in a year. The state recorded only one such case in 2022, while the state reported 3,399 cases of crimes against the tribal community in 2023, the year when ethnic violence had broken out there.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2023, these incidents affected 3,408 victims. In the same year, Manipur also earned the dubious distinction of recording most incidents of crimes and atrocities against the STs.

In fact, in dacoity cases against STs, Manipur recorded 260 incidents with an equal number of victims, while Karnataka stood a distant second with just one case. All other states drew a blank in dacoity cases against STs, as per the NCRB data.

As many as 1,542 incidents of rioting against STs were recorded in Manipur, with 1,550 victims.

Even in cases of incidents violating the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the north-eastern state again ranked first with 2,916 incidents and 2,925 victims.

In arson incidents (against STs), the troubled-state was at the number one spot, with 1,051 cases and an equal number of victims, while it also ranked first in recording 203 incidents of causing intentional insult to STs.

Ethnic violence had broken out in Manipur on May 3, 2023, when the majority Meiteis clashed with the tribal Kukis, following a Manipur High Court order recommending ST status for the Meitei people, a decision opposed by tribal groups due to fears of land and economic displacement.