Manipur: Stop Criminalising Human Rights Work, Says PUCL After 3 Women Leaders Booked

New Delhi: The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has expressed shock at the decision of the Manipur police to file an FIR against national women’s movement leaders, Annie Raja (general secretary, National Federation of Indian Women or NFIW) and Nisha Siddhu (national secretary, NFIW), as well as advocate Deeksha Dwivedi, for addressing a meeting after a fact- finding tour in Imphal, Manipur, in which they expressed the view that the May 3 violence in Imphal and surrounding areas was “state-sponsored”.

After their visit to Imphal and other conflict-driven areas, the three-member team had come to the conclusion that “people on both sides want peace to return and the State Government should put in sincere efforts to bring normalcy”.

In a statement, PUCL said that despite this plea, the three leaders have been charged with very serious criminal offences under Sections 121- A (conspiring to commit offences of waging war against India or against the state), 124A (sedition), 153/153-A/ 153-B (provocation with intention to cause riot, promoting enmity between different groups and imputations prejudicial to national integration), 499 (defamation), 504 & 505(2) (insult to provoke breach of peace, false statement, rumour etc. with intention to create enmity between different classes), and section 34 (common intention) of IPC.

The PUCL said the FIR filed by the Manipur Police was “an atrocious, malicious and unconscionable abuse of power”.

“The Police are using the law as an instrument of terror to frighten and intimidate citizens who seek to find out the truth through personal visits to conflict areas, meeting various stakeholders and parties involved and placing their findings in the public domain for discussion,” the statement read.

“Gandhiji himself used the tool of `Fact Finding Enquiries’ during the freedom struggle to place true facts of events based on field visits, which expose the official version to be self-serving lies or obfuscations,” it added.

The PUCL also expresses concern over the complaint filed against Kham Khan Suan Hausing, Head of the Department of Political Science at University of Hyderabad, for an interview with The Wire. The complaint, made by an Imphal-based social worker, Manihar Moirang Singh, was regarding “false statements” made by the professor that “defamed” the Meitei community.

It should be noted that Manihar M Singh is part of the Meitei Tribal Union (MTU), the organisation which had gone to the Manipur HC and obtained the order on March 27, 2023 to recommend the inclusion of Meiteis in the ST list. The issue of larger political motives behind the filing of the criminal complaint cannot be dismissed as fanciful, the PUCL said.

The PUCL demanded that the government immediately withdraw the FIR against the NFIW fact-finding team and ensure that the criminal case against Prof. Kham Khan Suan Hausing of Hyderabad University is closed.