AT, VVs not declared banned : CM
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR

Imphal, September 07 2026: Emphasising that the State Government has not declared village volunteer groups in the hills and valley or Arambai Tenggol as banned organisations, Chief Minister Y Khemchand said police have not registered cases against individuals on the basis of their affiliation with these groups.

He said arrests made by the police were based on individual involvement in criminal activities.

Taking part in a short-duration discussion moved by Opposition MLA K Ranjit in the Assembly today, the Chief Minister said the unprecedented violence that broke out on May 3, 2023, had compelled many youths to take up arms.

While some of them might have had good intentions, there could also be others who indulged in criminal activities, he said.

Khemchand said the State Government is studying cases involving unlawful and criminal activities committed in the wake of the violence that began in May 2023 .

Reiterating that the Government has not declared village volunteers in the hills and valley or Arambai Tenggol as banned organisations, he maintained that police action is based on individual criminal activities and not group affiliation.

The Chief Minister also said Manipur police had been a very strong force in the past, but its morale had declined following the unprecedented crisis that erupted on May 3, 2023 .

The Government is now taking steps to strengthen the police force, he added.

Khemchand, however, said the State Government could not simply withdraw criminal cases registered against individuals during the crisis.

The cases registered against individuals would be examined one by one, and the process would take time, he said.

Seeking a general amnesty for village volunteers, Ranjit said the crisis in Manipur, which began in the adjoining areas of Bish-nupur and Chura-chandpur, might not have escalated had the Government taken appropriate action in time.

He said several youths took up arms as the Government failed to protect their villages when armed militants and their associates, who sought to disintegrate Manipur, attacked them.

Saying that several foothill areas and other places had turned into battlefronts, with Sugnu being one of them, he acknowledged that the situation now has improved compared to the past.

Ranjit said that the former Chief Minister had appealed to youths on May 4, 2024, to return arms looted from police armouries, while the Governor had also made a similar appeal on February 5 last year, assuring that those who surrendered looted arms would not face criminal cases.

Saying that the police had recovered a substantial number of looted arms, he added that the summoning, questioning and even arrest of youths remain a matter of concern, as such actions could drive them in the wrong direction or push them towards joining insurgent groups.

He called for a discussion in the House to explore whether a general amnesty could be granted under Article 51A(d), Article 161 of the Constitution, or Section 35 of BNS to the village volunteers.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Govindas Konthoujam reaffirmed the decision taken by the Government in 2024 not to prosecute individuals who were not involved in heinous crimes such as attacks on security forces, extortion, murder or other serious criminal activities.

It is the responsibility of the Government to protect youths who are not involved in heinous crimes, Govindas said, adding that individual cases, however, would be examined by the Government.

He also said police did not harass individuals involved in the crisis, rejecting the Opposition's allegation that youths were being harassed.

The Home Minister informed the House that the Chief Minister had already instructed the authorities concerned to release, after questioning, individuals named in suo motu cases registered by different investigating agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA), at the earliest.

Several FIRs registered in connection with protests by the Cockroach Janata Party against the leakage of the NEET-UG question paper had been withdrawn but those who had engaged in criminal activities were not covered, he said and added that the State Government would also explore what could be done to protect the youth.

He, however, said passing a House resolution on the issue would not be easy, as the Justice Gita Mittal Committee had also been constituted under the Supreme Court in connection with the crisis.

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