Arrest of village volunteers flayed
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, September 23 2023:
Former MLAs Okram Joy Singh and RK Anand have strongly condemned the arrest of five village volunteers and re-arrest of one of them by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) even after granting bail by court.
Addressing media persons at his Kakwa residence Saturday, Joy Singh said all the five village volunteers arrested by Manipur police were granted bail by court but the matter of re-arrest of one of them namely Moirangthem Anand by NIA relates with the ongoing violence.
The present violence between the Meetei and Kuki communities is being widely referred to as 'war' and it is a big question as to who defended innocent Meetei villagers in the ongoing 'war' .
The present situation in Manipur might have been different had the village volunteers not joined the 'war' and it is unfair to intentionally arrest and detain them, he said adding that letting people to go to war-field and arrest them while returning home is akin to inciting violence.
While stating that the state assembly has failed to take a decision to save Manipur, O Joy said there is no meaning of having state assembly and its contribution to the people of Manipur is questionable now.
Former Naoriya Pakhanglakpa AC MLA RK Anand, who also attended the press conference, told media persons that government has warped of strict action if looted arms are not returned within 15 days.
However, the question is who gave away the arms to the people to defend themselves when government failed to perform its duty to protect lives and properties of the people, he said adding that people are fed up with the present government.
He also said that government should produce a 'white paper' on incidents before May 3 and on day to convince people or else people's uprising is very much eminent.
Meanwhile, Moirangthem Anand has been whisked to New Delhi for questioning.
A news agency quoting spokesperson of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said Anand was one of the five persons arrested by Manipur Police for possessing weapons looted from police armoury.
The arrest had led to agitation by the majority community, who were claiming them to be village defence activists.
A local court had granted bail to all the five on Friday.
However, Anand was immediately placed under arrest and whisked away to an undisclosed location before being brought to the national capital.
The official said Anand was arrested in a case related to a "transnational conspiracy" by Myanmar-based leadership of armed groups to wage war against the government of India by exploiting the current ethnic unrest in Manipur.
The case was registered suo moto by the NIA on July 19 in New Delhi and investigations revealed that in furtherance of the conspiracy, the proscribed groups are recruiting over ground workers, cadres and sympathisers to augment their strength to carry out attacks on security forces and opposing ethnic groups by exploiting current unrest in the state.
After Anand Singh was brought to Delhi on Saturday, he was produced before a jurisdictional court which remanded him in police custody for a period of five days.