2 weeks ago
81
Chingneihmoi Zou's husband was one of the first casualties of the ethnic violence that erupted on 3 May last year.
Published: 02 May 2024, 8:30 PM IST
"Before his body arrived, in my heart, I never thought I would be able to see my husband’s body again. But, when I think about it, the fact that his body was airlifted to Lamka [Churachandpur], and we were able to bury him, gives me a sense of comfort and relief."
Twenty six-year-old Chingneihmoi Zou in Manipur's Churachandpur had to wait eight months to bury her husband Thanghoulal. It was neither tradition nor an act of protest. Going to Imphal to retrieve Thanghoulal's body would mean risking death.
Chingneihmoi Zou in her house in Churachandpur in April 2024.
(Photo: Jehos Dymz)
Violence erupted in Manipur on 3 May 2023, one day short of exactly a year from today. Thanghoulal was one of the first casualties.
On 4 May, BJP MLA Vungzagin Valte was attacked by a mob in the state's capital, Imphal. While Valte survived and was air-lifted to a hospital in Delhi, Thanghoulal, who worked as his driver, was brutally lynched. He died on 5 May.
When The Quint met Zou, a mother of two children, in June last year, sitting in front of a banner remembering her husband, she had said, "The pictures were so difficult to look at. His face was completely disfigured, they had stabbed him in his stomach. To date, I've not seen my husband's dead body."
Chingneihmoi Zou in her house in June 2023.
(Photo: Saptarshi Basak/The Quint)
A banner remembering Thanghoulal, outside Chingneihmoi Zou's house in June 2023.
(Photo: Saptarshi Basak/The Quint)
Ten months on, when The Quint revisited her in Churachanpdur, Zou said that she had buried Thanghoulal in December.
On 20 December 2023, the bodies of 87 Kuki-Zo victims killed in the ongoing ethnic violence were airlifted from the morgues in Imphal to Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts. One of the 87 bodies was Thanghoulal's.
"We got his body before Christmas. The Army had airlifted his body from Imphal and almost as soon as the body reached here, he was buried. He was kept [in the morgue] for one or two days and buried soon after," Zou said.
A drone shot of the mass burial in Churachandpur in December 2023.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
Chingneihmoi Zou
As an ode to her late husband, Chingneihmoi Zou wrote a song, and even recorded it. She, however, cannot monetarily afford to make a music video at the moment.
"I felt immense and overwhelming grief after the death of my husband. I am not even someone that can compose lyrics for a song. It is just that every time I used to cry, there was an outpouring of emotions. Eventually, all of that culminated in a song."
An uncle of hers named Pa Thang, helped Zou record the song.
Chingneihmoi Zou
When asked to provide a glimpse of the song, she said that one of the most heart-wrenching verses goes like:
Where have you gone away...
Your son is waiting and asking —
Where are you, Papa?
Chingneihmoi Zou's two little boys.
(Photo: Jehos Dymz)
Chingneihmoi Zou with her two children.
(Photo: Jehos Dymz)
"And, the other one," she continued, "is, where before he left, we promised each other that we would see each other again."
We promised each other that we would see
each other again...
Where have you gone now?
As a mother who needs to tend to her two children, Chingneihmoi Zou lamented that she has no means of earning, and there is nobody in the house to earn money for the house.
Chingneihmoi Zou
Manipur Police officials told The Quint that while there is an FIR in relation to the mob attack on Vungzagin Valte and Thanghoulal, not a single arrest has been made.
[For a year now, Manipur has been torn apart by ethnic violence. Hundreds have died, and thousands have been displaced, with their future still uncertain. As Manipur votes for the two Lok Sabha seats starting 19 April, and with the one-year mark of the violence approaching right after on 3 May 2024, The Quint is going back to ground zero in pursuit of facts, untold stories, and the truth. As we hit the ground again, we would like to hear from you on what you think we should cover and investigate in our reports from Manipur. Send us your suggestions — and we will do our best to incorporate them. Apart from the risks involved in reporting from a conflict-ridden area, such reports require both time and resources. YOUR support helps us in our endeavour.]
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)
