Manipur schoolgirls cook up abduction story, stoke tension

The police in Manipur’s Bishnupur district launched a combing operation after three minor girls reported the abduction of 17 school-bound children, only to find out later that they had cooked up the story to escape punishment for bunking classes

GUWAHATI

The police in ethnic violence-hit Manipur’s Bishnupur district on August 28 launched a combing operation after three minor girls reported the abduction of 17 school-bound children by masked gunmen.

Hundreds of people and members of other security agencies in Bishnupur and adjoining districts joined the search too — only to find out later in the day that the girls, in their early teens, had cooked up the story to escape punishment for bunking classes in school.

Bishnupur, a Meitei-dominated district in Imphal Valley, has been one of the worst affected in the ongoing violence that broke out on May 3. It adjoins the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur district, also severely hit by the Kuki-Meitei conflict.

Also read | May 3 violence was likely pre-planned: Manipur CM Biren Singh

The trio claimed they were among 20 girls headed to their school in the Kabowakching area when two masked men kidnapped them after offering to take them on a picnic. The spot they referred to is near Nambol, about 16 km from the State’s capital Imphal.

The girls said they sensed trouble and jumped off the moving vehicle.