Protests in Manipur’s valley pressing for the release of five people, who had been arrested for allegedly possessing firearms and wearing camouflage uniforms, turned violent after a large number of women protesters surrounded various police stations on Thursday.
The situation got particularly heated at Singjamei police station in Imphal West where the officer in-charge’s residence was also vandalised. Police and security personnel responded with the use of teargas shells, leaving three civilians injured.
Typically, stakeholders in the Meitei society – from the biggest civil society organisation called COCOMI to the influential Meira Paibis or women vigilantes – have demanded the withdrawal of Assam Rifles from the state, but have not found themselves at odds with the police. This is among the first instances of Meitei civil society members directing their ire at the state police in the valley, which mostly comprises Metiei personnel since the Kukis who were part of the force had to flee when violence broke out in May.
On September 16, five people were arrested from Konga in Imphal East under multiple sections of the IPC, the Arms Act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Official Secrets Act for misuse of official uniform.
The Indian Express had learnt that they had been caught in possession of an INSAS rifle, an SLR, two .303 rifles, and multiple magazines and rounds of ammunition. One of them, Moirangthem Anand Singh (45), has been identified as having initially been a trained cadre of the separatist group People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of Manipur and then the Kangleipak Communist Party (Noyon) group. He had been arrested seven times between 1997 and 2010. The other arrested men are between the ages of 28 and 39.
Following their arrest, there had been multiple attempts to storm Porompat police station in Imphal East demanding their release. Amidst claims by Meitei groups that the five were ‘volunteers’, a 48-hour bandh took effect from midnight on Tuesday in response to calls by local groups.
On Thursday, attempts were made to storm seven-eight police stations in Imphal East, seven in Imphal West as well as a few in Thoubal, Kakching and Bishnupur districts, according to sources. Apart from Singjamei, teargas was also deployed in police stations such as Heingang and Porompat.
This week, Manipur Additional Secretary (Home) Maharabam Pradip Singh had addressed the media to emphasise the threat to law and order posed by people misusing police uniforms and to state that the arrest of these five people was part of an effort to crack down on this.
‘In the context of the present crisis in Manipur, the government of Manipur – particularly the state police – is making an all-out effort to restore normalcy. However, we are having information of armed miscreants masquerading as CDOs and roaming around in the streets. Such acts of armed miscreants resorting to extortion demands and threats have hampered the effort that the police have been genuinely making, and in this context, the police have taken multiple steps to curb the menace,’ he said.
‘Examples are the various search operations and setting up of multiple nakas in various strategic routes. At one of the nakas set up in the Kongba area on the 16th of this month, we apprehended five armed miscreants clad in supposedly CDO uniform or camouflage uniform, carrying arms. Besides that, we have reports from various valley districts in Manipur about the increased frequency of complaints relating to extortion demands and threats,’ he said.
Following the incidents, full curfew has been re-imposed in all areas of Imphal West and Imphal East districts, amid apprehensions of ‘further disturbance’ in the law and order situation.
