DMCC rejects PUCL Tribunal report on Manipur Violence, Calls for withdrawal and public apology

The Delhi Meetei Co-Ordinating Committee (DMCC) on Friday held a press conference at the Press Club of India, New Delhi, and strongly opposed the report of the Independent People’s Tribunal on the ongoing ethnic violence in Manipur, released by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on August 20, 2025.
The press meet, addressed by Dr. Seram Rojesh, senior journalist, public sociologist and convenor of DMCC, along with women’s rights activist Elizabeth, alleged that the tribunal’s report was “biased, politically motivated, and one-sided,” projecting the Meetei community as perpetrators and the Kuki-Chin community as victims. The speakers demanded the immediate withdrawal of the report and a public apology from PUCL.
According to DMCC, the report ignored testimonies of Meetei victims and downplayed attacks on Meetei villages from the very onset of the conflict on May 3, 2023. They alleged that violence began in Torbung and Kangvai, where armed Kuki groups attacked Meetei homes, and not in the Imphal Valley as the report suggested. “The sequence of events has been distorted, with crucial facts overlooked or misrepresented,” Dr. Rojesh said.
The committee further criticized the report for attributing the burning of a controversial gate in Churachandpur to Meeteis without credible evidence. DMCC maintained that the report appeared to justify subsequent violent attacks on Meetei villages in Bishnupur, Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, and Tengnoupal districts.
The speakers also accused the tribunal of being silent on what they termed the longstanding separatist agenda of Kuki armed groups and their repeated attacks on Meetei villages and religious sites since 2015. They cited the burning of Umang Lai temples, shrines, and desecration of sacred sites such as Koubru and Thangjing, claiming these acts were part of a “systematic attempt to erase Meetei faith and identity.”
On gender-based violence, DMCC alleged that the tribunal selectively documented sexual assault cases of Kuki women while dismissing testimonies of assaults against Meetei women. They cited cases of gang rape and killings of Meetei women, which, they claimed, had been documented with FIRs and medical records but were treated as “rumours” in the PUCL report.
“The deliberate omission of Meetei testimonies is an injustice that denies our community’s suffering,” Elizabeth said, adding that such selective narratives risked aggravating divisions instead of fostering reconciliation.
Reaffirming faith in the Justice Lamba Commission currently probing the violence, DMCC called for a fact-based investigation that would hold all armed groups accountable. The organization urged recognition of widespread attacks on Meetei lives, villages, and religious places, which they claimed remain largely unacknowledged.
The press conference concluded with a strong demand for the PUCL to withdraw its tribunal report and issue a public apology for what DMCC described as “a dangerous distortion of truth.”