FIR against NFIW members for slandering Meira Paibi
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, July 09 2023:
An FIR has been lodged against National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) general secretary Annie Raja, sec-retary Nisha Siddhu, and advocate Deeksha Duivedi at the Imphal police station on the charge of hurting the sentiments of Meira Paibis and terming the violence in the state as state sponsored without understanding the situation.
The FIR was registered under sections 121- A, 124,153, 153-A, 153-B, 499, 504, 505(2), and 34 of the Indian Penal Code based on a complaint filed by one L Liben Singh of Heingang Makha Leikai.
The complainant accused the three individuals of disrespect-ing Meira Paibi activists of Manipur and terming the Chief Minister's resignation as a "stage-managed drama" .
They have also been charged for contending the May 3 riot as a 'state-sponsored violence.' In his complaint, Liben said that amid the crisis in the state, Meira Paibis have been playing crucial role in restoring peace.
He also referred to data of the government's crackdown on Illegal poppy cultivation in which poppy cultivations in 18,664.5 acres of hill areas were destroyed from March 2017 to April 2023 out of which 2,699.8 acres were in Churachandpur district alone.
Moreover, the gov-ernment formed a cabinet sub-committee to look into the issue illegal immigration, which spook the illegal im-migrants leading to the May 3 violence.
The petitioner highlighted that due to the current law and order situation in the state, the Chief Minister, taking moral responsibility, decided to resign.
Howev-er, faced with protests from Meira Paibis and the public urging him to remain as Chief Minister during this critical time, he was compelled to withdraw his resignation.
The accused individuals, including one affiliated with the political party CPI, have disregarded the facts and in-sulted Meira Paibis of Mani-pur, describing their protest against the Chief Minister's resignation as a "stage-man-aged drama." Furthermore, they have referred to the May 3 riot as 'state-sponsored vio-lence' without providing any conclusive evidence.
The petitioner claimed that such statements are Fart of a conspiracy to overthrow a democratically elected government by inciting people to wage war against the government.
During a press conference, the accused individuals stated, "We have also met the affected people of both communities and came to the conclusion that it is state-sponsored violence which we witnessed in Manipur," as reported in the Nagaland Post on July 2, 2023 .
The accused individuals have also emphasised that both sides desire peace and the state government should make sincere efforts to re-store normalcy.