Manipur: Children Go Missing; Viral Video Surfaces, Parents Wait While Hope Diminishes with Each Passing Day

90 days have passed since violence first broke out in Manipur. The conditions in the state are far from normal, and with each passing day, videos of unthinkable atrocities being inflicted upon the common citizens are surfacing on social media.  Disturbing, gut wrenching, barbaric videos of terror that question the very essence of humanity. Recently, a bestial video of a girl being slaughtered by masked militants came to the fore. The country at large is reeling from that sight of sheer horror. NTT can't independently confirm the authenticity of the video and so hasn't police as yet. The video has stoked panic among two families. Two children have gone missing since July 6. Soon after that surfaced the questionable video. But in the current environment of distrust, two families are under tremendous distress.

Team NTT visited the family of a girl, who bears uncanny resemblance to the girl being slaughtered in the video. The family is unable to come to terms with that video, and fails to comprehend its contents. While the police and the authorities are yet to confirm the authenticity of the video and the identity of the girl in it, the missing girl’s family has sought solace in denial and are hoping and praying that their beloved daughter is alive and well.

On July 6, a boy and a girl, both best of friends, stepped out together for a bike ride. Their destination not known by their families. The families suspect that their children left for a joyride to the hills. CCTV Footage and the last location of their cell phones confirm that they were separated from the border area between Bishupur and Churachandpur, before they disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

About 20 days later, a ghastly video surfaced on social media and made several rounds. The clothes worn by the girl in the video are eerily similar to what the missing girl was wearing when she was last spotted. Meanwhile, the location and the whereabouts of the boy are still unknown.

The grief stricken father of the girl refuses to accept that his daughter has not returned home in over three weeks. “We are watching that video day and night, eagerly waiting for any little information on our daughter. I am crying for help, but I am helpless.” said the inconsolable father to NTT.

The families have run from pillar to post trying to locate their children and bring them back home. They have knocked on several doors seeking for help, from the police, to the local MLA, to the Governor; their situation is so dire that they visited the Chief Minister too. However, the forces and the authorities out together have failed to provide any information. “I went to the police several times, they have no update. They are investigating, always investigating. The chief minister, prime minister, Amit Shah, no one is taking any responsibility”, said the father in between sobs.

“We do not have our daughter’s dead body. We do not know if she is dead or alive, even the authorities have no clue”, says the father, he feels let down by the authorities. The looming uncertainty has created an excruciatingly painful situation for this father and the family. He vehemently condemns these acts of terror that are being inflicted by the masked miscreants. “These terrorists are hopeless people; they have no sympathy, humanism, nothing. Many are missing like my daughter. Her friend is missing too, we have no information on him”, he added.

According to official records, the girl was picked up from Keishampat, Imphal, and the last location of the boy was Lamdan, Churachandpur. Families fear that the children may have gone to the hillside for sightseeing, from where they were kidnapped.

The father of the missing boy is equally clueless and helpless, he too like the girl’s father has been let down by the incompetence of the authorities. “We know nothing about our son. We requested the government, including the chief minister to help us find our children, but, they failed to help us. Now, I am helpless, the system has failed us”, he said.

The families have united over shared grief and mutual suffering. They have become each other’s support in these trying times. The father of the missing boy regularly visits the girl’s house and shoulders and shares the pain and agony that the families are going through.

The heartbroken father of the girl showed team NTT his prized possessions, the gifts that his daughter hand made for father’s day, over the years. These gifts are all that he is left with. “My daughter is a painter. She prepared all of these for me, for father’s day”, he recalled fondly, while pulling instances from his memories with her.

Both fathers are facing the same predicament. The viral videos doing rounds on social media that speak of unimaginable horrors have simply added to their plight. Hope for these two families is diminishing with each passing day; some have even resorted to believing the contents of that gory viral video.