Man remanded in police custody for FB post
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, April 06 2024:
The court of CJM Imphal West on Saturday remanded a 37 year-old man, who was arrested by police for allegedly making derogatory posts on Facebook, to three days in police custody.
The arrested man has been identified as Johny Sarungbam (37) s/o Chaoba of Singjamei Mayengbam Leikai.
On Saturday, Johny was produced before the court by a team of Imphal PS.
During the hearing, the IO of the case submitted to the court that on April 5, a Facebook user by the name of Johny Sarungbam' posted several derogatory statements such as, "What is the difference between Kuki women entering AR camps and our older women coming to Babupara?", "Old women for sale, No place for them in Manipur, only Rs 500, Old women selling Manipur for Rs 500", and "Family members should correct the older women coming to Babupara repeatedly" .
The post soon went viral on various social media platforms.
As the post contain statements which were defamatory to the older women of the state and could possibly lead to tension, Imphal PS registered a sou moto case and launched an investigation, during which Johny Sarunbgam was identified as the user of the Facebook account.
The IO continued that since the accused had over 30000 followers, his post is not only instigating communal tension, but also disrupting the peace which is slowly returning to the state.
On top of this, the accused is defaming the Assam Rifles, which is one the central forces present in the state.
As such, the IO made a prayer to the court to remand the accused to seven days in police custody.
After listening to the IO's report, the court remanded the accused to three days in police custody.