Authorities at a prison in the state of Manipur, India subjected a group of women prisoners from Myanmar to beatings in retaliation for starting a hunger strike on Saturday, a local advocacy organisation said.
Manipur is located in India’s northeast and shares borders with Myanmar’s Sagaing Region and Chin State. Thousands of Myanmar’s people have fled over the border into India to escape escalating violence near their homes since the beginning of last year.
30 women were initially detained for staying in Manipur without the necessary legal documentation, and were charged fines and handed prison sentences of five months. Still in custody more than a year after their arrests, the women protested the prison authorities’ failure to free them by initiating a hunger strike last Saturday.
Prison guards retaliated for the strike three days later by beating the participants, said Salai Dokhar, founder of. . .
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