New Delhi: The FIR lodged in the case of rape of two Kuki women which happened on May 4 puts the onus on the police for not doing enough to prevent the horrendous tragedy. “However they [the rape survivors and two of their family members] were blocked on the way [when they were trying to flee because of the attack] by a mob and snatched them from the custody of police team by the violent mob near Toubul.”The FIR, which was lodged on May 18 at Kangpokpi police station, was later transferred to Yairipok police station under Thoubal district. The rape was committed at B.Phainom village which comes under the Yairipok police station.Did the mass loot of police armoury by the violent mobs across the state, beginning on May 4, strengthen the resolve of this particular mob which raped and paraded the two Kuki women? It may be mentioned here that The Wire had reported earlier how weapons of all types had been stolen by groups of people from various police stations and the police personnel deployed there hardly could offer any resistance. Various FIRs lodged earlier into the loot of police weapons say the mobs looted weapons even like Insas rifles, SLR rifles, AK assault rifles to pistols, magazines and whatever weaponry they found. The complainant – the village chief of B. Phainom village – who lodged an FIR in the case of gang rape claimed that police stood almost as bystanders. The accounts of survivors narrated to The Wire also say the same.However, Thoubal SP, Sachidananda, while talking to The Indian Express said the claim was false. “That very day, the Nongpok Sekmai police station was being mobbed by people trying to loot arms. Police were busy guarding the police station,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.“How can an SP hide behind the fact a PS under his jurisdiction was mobbed and hence his men could not respond to an SOS situation,” asks S.R. Dararpuri, a retired IPS officer. When was the police station mobbed? Exactly at the same time when this gruesome incident was happening, Darapuri wondered.The Wire made multiple calls to Thoubal SP and sent him an SMS to seek his clarification. He responded to none. It is also not known if an FIR was lodged into the mobbing of the police station, if what SP is claiming is true. Darapuri said looting of police weapons is a rare incident. But if one goes by the FIRs, which had been lodged in various police stations across the state giving details of such loots, it seemed something very common to be happening in Manipur. “I have never heard such large-scale mobbing of police stations in my entire career of 32 years. Rarely what would happen is a patrol party is mobbed, and the weapons looted or a small outpost looted,” Darapuri added. But incidents of mass arms loot must have wiped out the fear of the state and its police. And therefore, any violent mob would not think twice before doing anything gruesome, including rapes and parading women naked. There is no official number cited but according to various estimates, 3,000 weapons had been looted till last month. State’s chief minister N. Biren Singh and even the Union home minister have made repeated appeals to people to return the arms.“Any loot of police weapons is followed-up by raids and arrests. Had the Manipur government and its police done any of this in the initial phase, not only the subsequent loot incidents would have stopped but even the arms would have been surrendered,” Darapuri said. If the State had done so, it raises questions if it was complicit in the unprecedented stealth of police armoury, the former IPS officer said. As for the survivors of the May 4 incident, they should have been provided with immediate police protection. Moreover, even if the police were not able to protect the survivors because of whatever reason, they should have lodged an FIR about the incident immediately. Neither of these two things happened.The Wire has learnt that the survivors were not provided any protection because police did not swing into action at all till the video became viral. As far as the immediate lodging of the FIR is concerned, that also did not happen. After 11 days of the incident, the chief of the village where these women and their family members lived lodged an FIR.