Manipur police file FIR against fact-finding team; Sections of conspiracy to wage war against government added

The Manipur police have booked a three-member fact-finding team of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) under penal provisions for conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India, assaulting President/Governor with the intent of compelling them to exercise a power, making statements prejudicial to national integration, defamation and promoting enmity among two groups and inciting riots, for concluding that the ethnic conflict under way in Manipur was “state-sponsored violence”. 

The Manipur police have booked a three-member fact-finding team of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) under penal provisions for conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India, assaulting President/Governor with the intent of compelling them to exercise a power, making statements prejudicial to national integration, defamation and promoting enmity among two groups and inciting riots, for concluding that the ethnic conflict under way in Manipur was “state-sponsored violence”. 

This comes even as the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) on Monday condemned the registration of the FIR and asked the State government to “stop criminalising human rights work”. 

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The FIR was registered at the Imphal police station in Imphal West District on July 8, based on a complaint received from 53-year-old resident S. Liben Singh. The case has been registered against CPI leader Annie Raja (also General Secretary of the NFIW), NFIW National Secretary, Nisha Sidhu, and independent Delhi-based lawyer Deeksha Dwivedi. 

Sections added to the FIR include 121-A (conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India), 124 (assaulting President/Governor with the intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.), 153-B (imputations, assertion prejudicial to national integration), 499, 504, 505(2), and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. 

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In the complaint, Mr. Singh alleged that by concluding that the ethnic conflict in Manipur was “state-sponsored without any conclusive evidence”, the accused were allegedly “conspiring to overthrow a democratically elected government by instigating people to wage war against the government”.