At least 50 women suffered minor injuries as Central security forces and the police tried to disperse crowds that had gathered at several locations in the valley districts of Manipur demanding the release of five armed miscreants who were arrested last week, the police said on Thursday. The miscreants were also wearing police uniforms when they were arrested.
The Meira Paibi, a collective of Meitei women, had given a call to fill the jails on Thursday as an earlier 48-hour deadline, which included a shutdown in valley districts, demanding the release of the suspects lapsed.
The residence of the officer-in-charge of Singjamei police station in Imphal West was vandalised by a mob around 3.15 p.m. on Thursday. The Rapid Action Force (RAF), Centre’s anti-riot police, fired tear gas shells near Singjamei police station to disperse the mob. The violence in several parts of the State started around 1 p.m.
The five men who are in judicial custody are expected to be produced in court on Friday.
The police had said in a statement on September 17 that there have been reports of extortion threats, misuse of police uniform, and impersonation by armed miscreants. According to the First Information Report (FIR), the five accused were arrested on September 16 at Kongba near Meitei Mayek School in Imphal. Normal life has been affected in all the five valley districts since September 17, a day after the arrest of the five suspects.
On Thursday, hundreds of women thronged all the police stations in the valley urging the police to arrest them too. The women claimed that the five arrested men were village protection volunteers.
Soibam Memcha, a woman leader said, “We had demanded release of these volunteers. The government had turned a deaf ear. The Kukis also have their village guards. The people have not heard of any Kukis’ arrest including the leaders of the Kukis”. The women activists, while speaking to reporters here in Imphal, said that they will never give up until the five men are released.
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Police erected iron barricades with barbed wire on all sides of the police stations. They fired tear gas shells and mock bombs for several hours.
In view of the planned agitation, the district administration had shortened the relaxation in curfew hours in Bishnupur.
Manipur has been reeling under ethnic tension between the tribal Kuki-Zo and the Meitei communities since May 3. At least 175 people have been killed since early May and thousands have been displaced from their homes.
The entire Imphal valley will remain under curfew on Friday, according to a government order.
Notice to telecom operator
In another development, the Manipur government issued a show-cause notice to telecom operator Airtel after it was found that mobile data services were allowed on September 20 on few phone numbers in the hill district of Churachandpur and adjoining areas of Bishnupur district. Mobile data services are blocked in Manipur since May due to the prevailing law and order situation and only those numbers that are included in a “whitelist” prepared by the government have access to the facility.
The notice by T. Ranjit Singh, Commissioner (Home), Manipur government, to the Chief Technical Officer of Airtel in Imphal said the “lapse might have led to dissemination of inflammatory and provocative clips/messages in various social media platforms leading to communal tension/hatred/ rumours at this tense situation in the State” which “may aggravate the ongoing law and order crisis in the State.”
The telecom company has been asked to explain to the authorities by 12 noon on Friday the compelling circumstances under which such a serious lapse occurred, the officials responsible and an explanation as to why appropriate legal action should not be taken against Airtel for violation of the government orders, including a total ban of the telecom services by the company.
