In reply to MP's call : PUCL ready for public deliberation
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 29 2025: The eruption of the conflict in Churachandpur on May 3, 2023 was preceded by a series of events which show that the May 3 incident was not a spontaneous event, and what the report did was trace a timeline of events as they occurred in different places, said the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) in its defence after facing a barrage of backlash for allegedly painting the Meiteis as the "perpetrators" .

The PUCL has been accused of falsely drawing the conclusion that the Meiteis started the violence in the valley on May 3, 2023 and that the Kukis were "only retaliating" .

Many organisations including the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) had called out the PUCL for publishing a "one-sided" report on the Manipur conflict and Lok Sabha MP Dr Akoijam Bimol had written to the union to tender "unconditional apology" to the people.

The MP had accused the PUCL of lacking sensitivity, and making an "irresponsible and dangerous blunder" by publishing the "partisan" report that "adds fuel to the violent conflict" and called for a public deliberation.

In a reply to the MP's letter, Kavita Srivastava, president of the PUCL, said the union accepts the "offer and suggestion of a public deliberation about the report" .

"We also share the same concern and desire as you: as a group from different parts of India, we too are keen to help contribute to peace and dialogue amongst various sections of society in Manipur thereby building a process of peace building through truth and reconciliation.

We are sure you will also agree that a lasting peace cannot be achieved without accountability," said the PUCL in its reply today.

The report of the Independent People's Tribunal reconstructs the events that unfolded through the testimonies of many victims, survivors and witnesses from both the Meiteis and Kukis as well as other communities, living in different places and also security forces officials.

"What became clear is that the bursting of conflict in Churachandpur on 3rd May, 2023 was preceded by a series of events which clearly show that the 3rd May incident was not a spontaneous event," said the PUCL.

The PUCL said the tribunal faced two challenges--(a) The problem of equivalence - the demand that for every person affected from one community the Tribunal refers to a similarly affected person from the other community; and (b) to state who first started or sparked the violence.

"What the report sought to do is trace out a timeline of events as they occurred, in different places.

Each testimony in this regard, was rigorously checked for consistency with other evidence gathered and supporting material from some other source like FIR, media reporting and so on," said the PUCL.

It added, "We acknowledge that the Executive Summary does not fully articulate the findings which are more fully described in Chapters 4 to 7 .

We have no hesitation to accept any inadequacies that may exist in the Executive Summary portion.

Our only request is that readers please read through fully the contents of Chapters 4 to 7" .

The PUCL decided to set up the tribunal in March, 2024 and the Secretariat along with many members of the jury and experts visited Manipur in May-June, 2024, it said.

The visit to Manipur was between May 28 and June 4, 2024 .

"Since many persons could not meet us during this visit for various reasons, including floods, we had also set up a further sitting of the Tribunal in Delhi on 6th and 7th July, 2024 where again the jury met persons from both communities.

Even after this a few online meetings with those who wanted to depose were organized for the jury members upto September, 2024," said the PUCL.

Sittings were held by the jury and expert members in different districts including Bishnupur, Churachandpur, Imphal East, Imphal West, Kakching, Kangpokpi, Senapati and in Delhi.

Written testimonies and supporting documents, videos, photographs were also collected from the deponents, it added.

The PUCL said it made public announcements with a view to encourage people to participate in the process and also actively reached out to civil society members, journalists, authorities and other stakeholders from Manipur to ensure representation and a thorough understanding of the conflict, asserted the PUCL .

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