The recent revenge crimes in Manipur are one of the biggest examples of the dangers of fake news in the digital era, as women across communities share how rumours of dozens of women being raped and killed, which were fake, started disturbing the psyche of men and women already on the edge because of the ethic clashes in the state since May 3.
Once again, it were the women who faced the brunt of the internet shutdown in Manipur for almost two months and certain sections of women in Manipur feel that the failure of the state government in countering fake news using social media and other means of communication led to revenge crimes that possibly stoked the fire for the horrific gang-rape of women of the Kuki-Zomi tribe, paraded naked by a mob of men, whose video went viral causing nationwide furore.
Noornika Khuraijam, a doctor in a private medical college in Imphal, describes how rumours first started gaining ground on May 3. “It was all fake news. There were rumours all over how 41 women had been raped and killed in Churachandpur. We found out that it was not true but the news spread like wild fire,’’ she said. Noornika, who spends a large part of her day and night at the medical college, said there were times when they called up their friends in other hospitals and scanned records in their own hospital to check whether any dead bodies have been brought in or cases of gang-rape have been reported. This happened on more than one occasion. “Another time, there were rumours of more than a dozen dead bodies being recovered. It was a lie but there was no one to counter it officially,’’ she said.
According to Noornika, the internet shutdown not only paralysed the daily lives of people, including school and college-going children, but had a negative ripple effect on the rumour industry that picked up steam in the absence of a social media-driven campaign by the government that could have been on its feet 24/7 to dispel the fake news from time to time.
While law enforcement agencies believe that shutting down the internet helps prevent mobs and inimical elements from getting traction and posing a threat by galvanising large crowds or spreading fake news, the Manipur experience has shown how the shutdown of internet services allows rumours to spread like wild fire on the ground rather than the cyber space. In far-flung areas and conflict zones where women and children are easy targets for mischief-mongers and criminals, the absence of constant communication and dispelling rumours by the local administrators can leave the playground open for atrocities to happen as seen in the recent cases.
“There is no one size fits all. The Manipur experience should be a lesson for all state governments to think twice before shutting down the internet to maintain peace. Instead, a robust mechanism to use the cyber space to track the inimical elements and competently counter all the fake news immediately should be put in place,’’ said a senior government official.
Noornika, who belongs to the Mitei community, said the horrifying crime is a result of incompetence of the government that failed to fulfil its duties. “The decision to shut down the internet means the administration is lazy or ignorant or simply incompetent that they could not use it to dispel the rumours? The different communities were being filled with rage and belief of atrocities committed against their women and they seemed to have used it to justify their act of barbarism,” she said.
Grace, who belongs to the Kuki-Zomi tribe, agreed that the state government had been turning a blind eye till the video of the crime went viral. “This is not the only incident. There have been incidents of elderly women, differently abled women being shot dead and some of the media called her a suicide bomber,’’ she said. “Then there were two tribal women who were raped and killed and their bodies are still lying in a hospital in Imphal. The parents have still not got their bodies,’’ said Grace. Incidents of students being targeted in universities have been taking place, where girls are again being targeted and tortured. “These atrocities are not against one community but against women of India and the culprits should be punished and given stringent punishment,’’ she said.
The violence against women has brought all communities together whether it is Naga civil society organisations, who had earlier kept a distance from the ethnic clashes in Manipur, or the women from the majority Metei community who want strict action against all those involved in such dehumanising crimes.