I kept thinking of the 21-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted by the mob, as spectators looked on, and of her brother, just 19, who was killed on the spot, for trying to save her.

The Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India were angry too. Their reprimands led to an inert chief minister rising from his two-month-long stupor. Suddenly, in a matter of hours, the main accused was arrested.

So, was N Biren Singh deliberately looking the other way all these days? Or was he ignorant of what had happened? Neither option speaks well of his (already diminished) credibility.

Let me explain.

We know that this incident of gangrape and murder took place on May 4. The first police complaint, what is called a zero first investigation report (FIR), was filed on May 18. This is a concept introduced by the Justice JS Verma panel in the aftermath of the 2012 gangrape. It allows a sexual assault victim to file a police case anywhere in India, irrespective of jurisdiction. The FIR is then forwarded to the relevant local police station. In this case, the FIR was forwarded to the relevant police station on June 21.

For more than 60 days, a rape-and-murder FIR was ignored. If the video had not emerged and enraged an entire country, the rapists and murderers would still be out there. So, is Singh admitting that he was not aware of this particular ghastly case of sexual assault? Or is he conceding that he was in the know but was helpless to act?

Either way, it reveals either incompetence or callousness. Biren Singh should resign or be removed. Not because of the horror of this incident alone, but because of his spectacular failure over the last two months. And because there are other rapes and murders that have not hit the national headlines yet. And, yes, of course, there are victims and perpetrators on both sides of the ethnic divide.

The truth is that Singh has failed to protect even his own lawmakers. Think of Vungzagin Valte? He is Singh’s colleague, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator, and an advisor to the chief minister. He was attacked and he lay strapped to a hospital bed in Delhi, unable to speak or walk. His wife said the family could never return to Manipur.

The truth is that with all units of local administration split along ethnic lines, the only institution that still has any credibility is the Army. It is the Army that has been creating buffer zones between the Meiteis and the Kukis; it is the Army that has been initiating dialogue with community leaders on both sides and it is the Army that has been reminding Indians, as it did in a recent video, that “to be human is not a sign of weakness.” And remember, the Army has been operating without the legal cover of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in many pockets of Manipur.

Singh claims the video provided crucial evidence and helped the police to identify the men. So, isn’t it ironic that some officials in the information technology ministry have asked for reports and shows on Manipur (these include some of my own) to be blocked? Of course, no media house should be permitted to identify the women or show graphic images of assault. Such videos should be blocked. But, if the video has been referred to with the requisite editorial protection, to take down media coverage around it is to effectively obstruct the full telling of the Manipur horror.

“This is not about Kukis or Meiteis ... it is about Indian women, all Indian women,” Hunjan said to me, sobbing like a child. On the day, that we, India’s women, were chilled to our bone by the video, a parliamentarian accused of sexual abuse got bail unopposed by Delhi Police, and a rape convict, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, got parole, yet again.

Manipur — and the viral video — should concern us all. And the beginning of rebuilding the trust among people in the state is President’s Rule.

Barkha Dutt is an award-winning journalist and author. The views expressed are personal