IMPHAL: Two women were brutally murdered in two days in Manipur, where widespread violence is continuing. A mother was allegedly raped and burned alive in front of three children in Jiribam district. The deceased is a 31-year-old teacher. A group believed to be Meitei militants set fire to around 20 houses and unleashed violence. The assailants shot the teacher in the leg while everyone was fleeing. According to the complaint lodged by her husband with the police, they brutally harassed her.

Yesterday, a woman working in a field in Bishnupur district was shot dead by miscreants believed to be Kukis. Locals protested alleging that central forces deployed in the area were not preventing the attacks. Officials said more forces have been dispatched.

Meitei civil society groups have alleged that Kuki insurgents are working in the guise of 'village defence volunteers' in paddy fields in the valley.

Meanwhile, the police have sought the district magistrate's permission to conduct the post-mortem of the teacher's body and video recording of the teacher's body at the Silchar Medical College Hospital in Assam.

Violence has been going on in various districts of Manipur for the past one week.

Massive protests

Massive protests erupted in the Kuki-dominated Kangpokpi and Churachandpur districts over the killing of women. Meitei organizations also protested. Civil society group Hmar Inpui responded that the teacher was killed inhumanly and denied a dignified death rite. More than 200 people were killed in the Kuki-Meithi riots that broke out in May last year. Thousands fled homeless.