Manipur violence: House of main suspect who paraded naked woman set on fire, 3 accused still unidentified

Huirem Herodas Meitei, the main suspect in the Manipur sexual assault video case, was arrested on Thursday, and hours later, a group of women in his village set fire to his home.

The primary suspect among the four individuals detained for parade-naked and sexually abusing two women from the Kuki-Zomi group on May 4 in Thoubal district of Manipur is 32-year-old Herodas, a native of Pechi Awang Leikai village. The other three's identities are still a secret.

Images of the incident showed a group of protesters, largely women, igniting the accused's home.

The video which had gone viral depicted a crowd from the opposing community parading naked women from one of the warring communities in Manipur's Kangpokpi district.

The incident, which took place in a village in the Kangpokpi region, happened on May 4, one day after ethnic unrest broke out in the northeastern state.

Under criticism from the public and calls for his resignation, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that the police response had been delayed because of problems with the identification of the culprits.

“There were over 6,000 FIRs even as the violence continued. Police were trying to identify the case when the video surfaced. As soon as we got hold of the video, we could identify the culprits and action was taken immediately and we arrested two persons, including the main culprit,” he said.