Torn shoulder, ‘foreign particles’ in skull: Security forces face heat over ‘excessive force’ against Manipur protesters

The state’s Meitei-dominated valley areas have been on edge since Tuesday, after two photographs surfaced indicating that two youngsters – Hijam Linthoingami (17) and Phijam Hemjit (20) – who had gone missing since July 6 have been killed. Their last phone location had been traced to Churachandpur.

Schools were shut and mobile internet services suspended once again as hundreds of students hit the streets in protest, while the police, RAF, Assam Rifles and Army were called in to control the situation.

X-ray images showed dozens of “foreign particles” lodged in his skull.

The face-off has left many injured. Among them is 17-year-old L Kishan – on Wednesday, photos had emerged showing the top of his right shoulder torn off. Dr Indranil Datta who had operated on him, said: “The particles removed are all almost uniform 1-2 mm pellets of a black coloured hard material, which produced a metallic sound when kept in the bowl. Beyond that I cannot comment on the type of ballistics used; that has to be studied by a forensics department. What I can say is that whatever was shot, was shot from a very close range. Almost identical pellets have been removed from four other patients in our hospital but those were a smaller number. Some had 5, some 10-12. These others did not have open wounds but small splinters instead.”

Another patient at the same hospital is another Johnson, also 17. “He may lose vision in his right eye. It is grievously injured – whether by splinter, rubber bullet, or something else, we cannot ascertain – and his nasal bone is fractured. We have not operated on his eye so far and he is under observation. We are waiting for a neurosurgeon’s consent to proceed with the surgery,” said the hospital official.

On Thursday afternoon, another youth who had been injured, Uttam Soibam (17), underwent surgery at Raj Medicity. X-ray images showed dozens of “foreign particles” lodged in his skull.

“We have been told that there are more than 50 particles in his head and that the surgery can last for up to seven hours… He was injured on Tuesday night. He had gone to join the protests which were happening in Singjamei, around a kilometre from our home,” said his cousin Kangleinbanba.

An official at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, said they had received 14 patients with injuries. “Of these, four had injuries with pellets lodged near the eye or the chest, which have been removed. We cannot tell the nature of the pellets, whether these are splinters from tear gas shells or rubber bullets. None of them were very major injuries and all have been discharged,” he said.

The injuries sustained by minors also prompted the Manipur Commission for Protection of Child Rights to issue an appeal that the strategies used to control young protests should differ from those applied to adults.

“I have appealed that things like tear gas should not be used against minor protesters. The last resort should be water cannons. There should always be one ambulance on standby and someone from the district administration should be present at all times,” said MCPCR chairperson Phurailatpam Manibabu.

The issue had also been raised by Chief Minister N Biren Singh who, during his press conference on Wednesday, said that these allegations will be looked into and that he has advised security forces to exercise “maximum restraint” in dealing with women and student protesters.

Officials in the security establishment insist they are using “minimum force” to control the protesters.

Meitei civil society group COCOMI also issued a statement on Thursday against the RAF, stating, “Central force flexing their muscles on students in uniform and pulling out people from their homes and thrashing them for protesting against the murders of innocent students is an act of cowardice…”