Bewildered Manipur police cyber cell
- Imphal Times Editorial :: July 23 2016 -

On June 9, this year Cyber crime unit of Manipur swung into action and arrested four persons including two minors for assaulting a non-local and uploading the video of the incident on social networking sites.

No individual complaint, but the cyber crime cell took up a suo-motto case after the video they uploaded went viral on social media. The four youths were charged of hate crimes.

As two among the four were minor boys they were sent to observatory homes while the other two were sent to prison.

On February 6, the Cyber Crime Unit of Imphal West police finally identified a woman who mercilessly thrashed a small girl in a video that went viral on the social networking site Facebook in the third week of January.

As the matter is of juvenile related case, the cyber crime unit acted as according to a report filed by Child Welfare Committee Imphal West. The victim child was rescued and people lauded the commendable job delivered by the Cyber crime Unit.

On June 2, Imphal West police registered a case against the then JCILPS convenor Khomdram Ratan, after National Daily ‘Indian Express’ reported a news item at which Ratan was portrayed as a member of a banned rebel group UNLF, based on a photo which was uploaded in social media Facebook.

It took less than 24 hours for the police to swing into action for arrest of any person who spread hate crime through social media.

Now on June 24, after a 6-mins 2 sec. length video was seen uploaded in social which has the tendency to spark communal enmity among two important community of the state, Imphal Times drew the attention of the concerned police department through its editorial under the title “Macabre Messiah”.

The video showed a Muslim cleric physically assaulting a Muslim girl using a cane in front of many Muslim men inside a room at which a banner with script “ANJUMAN, was seen hanging on the wall.

The banner hinted that the physical assault of the Muslim girl happened inside an office room of the so called ANJUMAN- a civil body of Muslim community.

What is more shocking about the incident is the hate speech used by the Muslim cleric.

He was even heard saying that a Muslim girl marrying to man of another religion is unforgivable and liable for capital punishment.

He said it as written in the holy book Qurans.

The effort went in vain as no police officers or any concern government authority did not catch up with what Imphal Times was trying to convey.

On July 15, Imphal Times taking the matter as a serious one, as it has the tendency to spark communal violence, the story was once more re-produced under the title – “Police fails to take action on hate mongering video that went viral on social networking site”.

While filing the story Imphal Times did questioned the Imphal West Cyber Cell Unite on whether they had taken case as the video has tendency to break communal clashed.

But straight away the authority in the cyber cell unit replied that they haven’t taken up any case on that specific issue as nobody complaints.

However, what surprises Imphal Times is that, when the Cyber crime unit can take up suo-motto case base on the media report they haven’t taken up a case nor did they showed any interest in the video.

Well, it is about human rights violation and hate mongering speech.

And if no action is proceeded; there is no reason for us in the media to say that “Cyber cell of Police as well as the Superintendent of Police are here not for the state of Manipur but for the so called Ministers and MLAs.

As it stands as a fact that video mongers communal ideas, violates human right, amounts to cruelty to woman, provoke enmity between religious groups moreover it is undemocratic and is against constitution of India.