HC orders to block video clip of Rishikanta, seeks progress
Call jolted awake family at 1.45 am of Jan 22
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 23 2026: The Single Bench of the High Court of Manipur has today issued a notice to the Union of India to submit updated information on the progress regarding the blocking of video clips showing the killing of Mayanglambam Rishikanta by unknown armed individuals in Churachandpur in the night of January 21 .

The Court has set the next hearing date on February 18 .

The writ petition was filed by the State of Mani-pur, represented by the Commissioner of Home, highlighting the urgency of the matter.

The Advocate General informed the Court that a viral video showing the brutal killing of Mayang- lambam Rishikanta by unidentified assailants had spread across social media platforms.

Apprehension has been raised that the viral video clip may disturb public order, and the Advocate General has requested that the Court order Meta Platforms, Inc, YouTube, Google India, WhatsApp Inc., and other relevant social media platforms to take down the video.

The Deputy Solicitor General of India (DSGI) reported receiving an email from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) regarding blocking of the incriminating video.

The email confirmed that an order had been issued on January 22 to block the content, following a directive from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The order was issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, read with the Information Technology (Pro- cedure and Safeguards for Blocking Access to Information by Public) Rules, 2009 .

Finally, the Court directed the Union of India to provide an updated report on the progress of blocking the viral video before the next hearing scheduled for February 18 .

On the other hand it has come to light that the family of Mayanglambam Rishi-kanta Singh didn't know he had been staying in Churachandpur with his fiancee, a woman from the Kuki tribe, until the horrific viral video surfaced on social media, his family members and relatives said, NDTV reports.

Suspected Kuki insurgents killed him, Rishikanta's sister M Ashalata Devi, 39, said in a police complaint before filing a first information report (FIR).

NDTV has seen a copy of the complaint.

On camera, the insurgents shot dead the 31-year-old man point blank with an assault rifle.

They made him stand on his knees and beg for his life, evident from the way he held his hands folded.

The killers then uploaded the video on social media in a bid to make the public angry and create fresh unrest on ethnic lines in Manipur when talks for normalcy, peace and Government formation are going on, sources said.

A text overlay on the video read: "no peace, no popular Government" .

Sanayaima, a neighbour of Rishikanta in Kakching Khunou, a town in central Manipur's valley region, said he and some locals first saw the viral video around the same time on Wednesday night.

"Rishikanta's family had not seen the video.

We saw that it was indeed him.

To come to that realisation was the most painful experience I have ever had.

One of us called his family and told them there was a video of their boy.

No family should go through this.

It was not a mindless, out-of-control riot.

It was a planned murder by terrorists," the neighbour said on the phone.

"It took some convincing for his father to see.

'Isn't that your boy', we asked.

What else could we have done?" he added.

Singh worked in Nepal and had returned home in December 2025, his cousin Amarjit said on the phone.

According to him, Rishikanta went to Churachandpur on December 19; sometime in mid-January he dialled his father and sent a few thousand rupees for treats; the money came from [his wife] Chingnu Haokip's account; his father thought he called from Nepal, and he did not inform his family he would go to Churachandpur.

Amarjit also said the family got to know he was in Churachandpur only after some people in their neighbourhood informed them about the viral video taken at night somewhere in Churachandpur.

'Got Call At 1.45 AM' Ashalata, the murdered man's sister, in her police complaint for an FIR said she got a call on January 22 at 1.45 am from Chingnu.

"She along with my younger brother...who had been staying with her at Tuibong village since 19/12/2025 was kidnapped by some unknown armed miscreants suspected to be Kuki militants from her house," Ashalata said in the police complaint.

"She further informed that they were taken to a secluded place by a four-wheeler vehicle while on the way she was thrown out of the vehicle and [they] took her husband/my brother toward [the] hill and shot him dead," she added.

(With inputs from NDTV ) .

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