No Closure, Information or Compensation, Manipur Families Mourn Their Missing

Many families have received no news on their loved ones and have even performed their last rites. When some of them sought the promised compensation, they were told by the Manipur government that they must wait seven years.

Imphal — Several families in Imphal live in the hope that they can see their missing relatives again and yet, with every passing day, the kernel of doubt grows. More than 30 people from Manipur’s capital city of Imphal have gone missing in the course of the ethnic violence that erupted on May 3, 2023.  

The violence has claimed more than 260 lives and displaced over 60,000 people in Manipur. 

Clashes between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities have left a trail of destruction across the state, leaving it divided along community lines. During this period, dozens of first information reports were filed, many for missing persons. Many families have received no news on their loved ones and have even performed their last rites. When some of them sought the promised compensation, they were told by the Manipur government that they must wait seven years — the legally mandated period to declare a person dead — before any such aid can be considered.

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Manipur is currently under President’s Rule, but many families say that this has changed little on the ground. In this violence-struck state, loss has become routine.

Thongam Ranjita, 38, was a resident of Torbung Bangla — once a Meitei-majority area — in Bishnupur district. But during the violence, many of the homes belonging to the Meitei community were burnt to ashes. 

“When the violence began on May 3, we somehow managed to escape the area, but on May 11, 2023, my husband, Thongam Shyam returned to our house to collect some daily essentials. Who knew that would be the last time he’d ever go back?” Ranjita said.

Her husband, Shyam, who would be 37 years old today, wasn’t the only one to disappear. Shyam’s nephew — his elder sister’s son — is also missing from the same location, Torbung Bangla, and has not been seen for two years.

Ranjita had filed a police complaint soon after her husband went missing, but has not heard from the Manipur Police in the past two years. She believes he was killed by Kuki militants in the surrounding hill areas. 

Data reveals that 32 people have gone missing in the past two years. The Wire has not been able to trace a single case where a missing person has returned or has been brought back. More missing persons cases are filed every day.

In Meitei culture, when a body is not available for final death rituals, families turn to a symbolic substitute — a plank made from the Pangong tree. This tradition allows families to honour loved ones and fulfill cultural obligations regarding the soul’s passage into the afterlife.

Pangong bark is used during the Lanna Thouram or funeral. Symbolic ceremonies help grieving families find closure and reinforce community ties in situations of collective trauma.

This is exactly what the affected families have done. They have also approached the Manipur Police, local MLAs, and even ministers — some even sought the intervention of former chief minister N. Biren Singh. 

The Wire had earlier reported on the case of Hemanjit and Phijam Linthoingambi, two students from Imphal who went missing in July 2023 at the peak of the violence. Their fate only became known in late September when internet services were partially restored in the state — and photos of their bodies surfaced online, triggering national outrage. Both were believed to have been abducted from Bishnupur district and later killed.

Hemanjit’s father, Ibungobi Singh, a retired state government employee, told The Wire in late April this year that his son’s case is now being handled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), but he has received no updates so far. “I even met Biren Singh. My son’s body has still not been handed to us,” he said.

These families also question the role and reliability of the state’s police forces. They argue that while law enforcement should remain impartial, after May 3, 2023, a visible divide has emerged. Meitei police officers were relocated to the Imphal Valley, while Kuki officers were restricted to the hills. This unprecedented segregation within the police force has turned inter-community movement — even for state officials — into a life-threatening act.

When Supreme Court judges visited the state, only one Meitei judge could accompany them to Churachandpur, a Kuki-majority area. Many residents blame Biren Singh for aggravating the crisis. They allege that instead of acting as a leader for all communities, he remained confined to Imphal — the Meitei-majority capital — and failed to take effective action elsewhere.

R.K. Bijaylaxmi, a political activist and prominent voice in the Manipur crisis, has been raising her voice against the government’s inaction.

Speaking to The Wire at Imphal in late March, she said: “What is the meaning of democracy? We talk about fundamental rights, constitutional rights — but none of us in Manipur are enjoying these rights. People are being compelled to pick up arms just to protect their lives and properties. We have a right to life, too, but we are facing injustice from all angles.”

She further asked: “Who is going to compensate the families of the victims? Who is responsible for those who are missing or lost?” Bijaylaxmi also pointed out that the rising cost of living has further worsened conditions for displaced families. “Some MLAs, who didn’t want to be named, have provided small amounts of help. But the government — which is supposed to take care of us — has disappeared,” she said.

This correspondent reached out to former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh for comment on these cases, but there has been no response so far.