A young Kuki woman who survived gang-rape during Manipur's ethnic violence died January 10 from complications her family attributes to the May 2023 assault - a death exposing how the conflict continues claiming victims long after headlines fade.

The woman died in Guwahati, Assam, nearly 1,000 kilometers from her Manipur home - forced there because ethnic divisions prevent Kuki people from accessing hospitals in state capital Imphal.

"Her spirit was killed in 2023 itself," her cousin told The Wire. "What died now was just her body, slowly, because she could never heal."

A billion people aren't a statistic - they're a billion stories. This woman's story reveals brutal conflict arithmetic: 220 deaths officially recorded, but countless more dying slowly from trauma, displacement, denied medical care.

According to her complaint, she was abducted by four men in a white vehicle in Imphal on May 15, 2023, as ethnic violence between majority Meitei and minority Kuki tribes engulfed the state. She was assaulted by a mob, then taken to isolated locations where she was "repeatedly beaten, threatened with death, and gang-raped by armed men."

During a hilltop altercation, one assailant struck her, causing her to fall down the hillside. A local auto-rickshaw driver rescued her.

Police filed charges under multiple IPC sections - including rape, kidnapping, attempted murder - plus Scheduled Castes and Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act. But investigation progress remained glacial.

"She developed insomnia and severe trauma," her cousin explained. "She used to scream out loud and became increasingly isolated. Whenever she saw a white Bolero, she would break down."

The psychological wounds proved devastating. But systemic barriers to treatment accelerated her decline.

Manipur's ethnic violence created what amounts to internal partition. Kuki communities control the hills; Meiteis dominate the valley and Imphal, where the state's best hospitals are located. Crossing those invisible boundaries can be fatal.

"Her survival chances would have improved with access to proper medical care in Imphal," family members stated. "But Kukis are effectively barred from the state capital's hospitals. We had no choice but to send her to Assam."

The displacement to Guwahati - seeking treatment in a different state, away from family support, in an unfamiliar medical system - made consistent care nearly impossible. Her health deteriorated steadily over 20 months until her death.

"This is what happens when ethnic conflict destroys not just lives but entire social infrastructure," said Binalakshmi Nepram, founder of Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network. "Hospitals become inaccessible. Police protection evaporates. Justice systems fail. Victims die twice - once from assault, again from systemic abandonment."

The Manipur violence erupted May 3, 2023, triggered by Meitei demands for Scheduled Tribe status - a designation granting affirmative action benefits and land rights. Kukis, who hold ST status, saw this as an existential threat to their land holdings.

What began as protests exploded into ethnic cleansing. Mobs burned villages, killed neighbors, sexually assaulted women as ethnic war weapons. The violence displaced 60,000 people, destroyed 350 churches and temples, created 150 relief camps housing families who cannot return home.

Eighteen months later, Manipur remains effectively divided. Internet shutdowns became the longest in Indian democratic history. The state deployed 40,000 security forces, yet violence continues sporadically.

Sexual violence became a particular horror. Multiple rape and gang-rape cases emerged - including a viral video showing two Kuki women paraded naked by a mob that prompted national outrage. But that outrage produced few convictions.

"We filed charges in May 2023," the survivor's family said. "What progress happened in 20 months? Investigations dragged, witnesses weren't properly interviewed, and meanwhile she was dying."

The Kuki Students' Organisation urged authorities to recognize her death as conflict-related sexual violence and demanded independent investigation with accountability for officials who failed to act.

"This isn't just about one woman's death," said Jangkhomang Guite, a Kuki civil society leader. "It's about systemic failure where the state that should protect victims instead creates conditions killing them through neglect."

For Manipur's 32,000-square-kilometer area and 3.7 million population, the conflict exposed the fragility of India's northeastern ethnic mosaic. The state houses 33 recognized tribes, each with distinct languages, customs, territorial claims - all compressed into a small state bordering Myanmar.

PM Narendra Modi remained largely silent on Manipur for months after violence began, finally addressing Parliament in August 2023 to condemn the viral rape video. But national attention quickly moved on, leaving Manipur to its frozen conflict.

"The country watched for a week, then forgot," said Pradip Phanjoubam, editor of the Imphal Free Press. "But we're still living it. People are still dying. Not just from bullets - from trauma, displacement, from medical care they can't access across ethnic lines."

The survivor's death raises uncomfortable questions about how India counts conflict casualties. Official figures list 220 deaths - those killed directly in violence. But how many others died slowly, like this woman, from injuries, trauma, suicide, or denied medical care?

"If she hadn't been gang-raped in 2023, she'd be alive today," her family stated bluntly. "That makes this a conflict death, even if the government won't count it that way."

For India's government, which touts development and national unity, Manipur remains an embarrassing wound that won't heal. The conflict exposes how quickly ethnic tensions can explode even in prosperous, educated states - Manipur has a 79.2% literacy rate, higher than India's national average.

It also reveals limits of security force deployment. Despite 40,000 troops - roughly one soldier per 90 civilians - violence continues because underlying ethnic grievances remain unaddressed.

"We don't need more soldiers," said Kh. Mani, a Meitei civil society activist. "We need political dialogue, truth and reconciliation, and consequences for those who committed atrocities on both sides. Without that, we're just freezing the conflict, not ending it."

For the Kuki woman who died January 10, justice and reconciliation came too late. She survived the assault but not its aftermath - killed not by initial violence but by a system that couldn't or wouldn't protect survivors.

"Her spirit was killed in 2023 itself," her cousin said. It took 20 more months for her body to follow - 20 months of trauma, displacement, inadequate care, and waiting for justice that never arrived.

For Manipur's 3.7 million people, still living in a state divided by ethnic hatred and abandoned by national attention, that bitter truth offers no comfort. Only the knowledge that more victims will likely follow her path, dying slowly in the shadows of a conflict the country has chosen to forget.