New Delhi: The Manipur Police have registered an FIR against personnel of the Assam Rifles, accusing them of helping out “Kuki militants” to “escape freely to a safe zone” during an ongoing combing operation.
According to the FIR, the case was registered on 5 August against “personnel of 9th battalion of Assam Rifles” after they stopped the police from “discharging their law bound duty”.
ThePrint has a copy of the FIR.
A police team was proceeding towards Pholjang road along Kwakta ward number 8 as a follow up action in an a case of Arms Act for conducting a search operation to “trace the accused Kuki militants that might have been taking shelter at Kwakta ward number 8”, when they were obstructed by personnel of the Assam Rifles (AR), the FIR says.
“On reaching the Kutub Wali Masjid located in Kwakta, the state police teams were stopped and locked their way by the personnel of 9th AR by keeping and parking their Casper vehicle in the middle of the road and obstructed discharging their law bound duty,” it adds. “As such an arrogant act of the personnel of 9th AR giving a chance to the accused Kuki militants to escape freely to somewhere a safe zone for them.”
The case has been registered under the IPC sections of disobeying law by public servant with intent to cause injury to any person, obstructing public servant in discharge of public function, threat to injury to public servant, wrongful restraint, assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation, criminal intimidation and common intention.
On Saturday, a video of a Manipur police team getting into a heated argument with the Assam Rifles was widely circulated on social media. In the video, the police officers were seen accusing the Assam Rifles of “interfering in their operation”.
“The personnel did interfere with the functioning of the police. If the police are stopped from carrying out operations, making arrests and recovering weapons, the violence in Manipur will never stop,” a police source said.
A senior officer of the Assam Rifles, however, said that the development is “bizarre”.
“Where does it happen that one force registers a case against the other. This is bizarre. The Assam Rifles has been working day and night from day one to control the violence. The force evacuated so many people in record time to ensure that casualties are not reported, Our personnel have been acting as a buffer in so many places. To accuse a force of being partisan, and that too by a police force is extremely tragic,” the officer said.
Meanwhile, Assam Rifles personnel have been replaced with a unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the local police at a check post in Moirang between Bishnupur and Kangvai which has been seeing clashes for the past one week.
The order came after a group of Meitei women, Meira Paibis, held a day-long protest in Imphal East and West districts demanding the removal of the paramilitary force from Manipur. The women alleged that the Assam Rifles was “partisan” and favoured the Kuki community, while using force against the Meiteis.
The Manipur Police, however, called the change a “partial modification”. “In partial modification of this office’s order dated 3 August, 2023, the naka/check point at Moirang Lamkhai on the Bishnupur to Kangvai road shall be manned by civil police and CRPF in place of 9 Assam Rifles with immediate effect and until further orders,” the order said.
At present, several companies of the CRPF, the BSF, the SSB, the ITBP and Assam Rifles, and the Indian Army are posted in Manipur, which has been on the boil since 3 May. At least 160 lives have been lost and over 50,000 displaced in the over three-month long ethnic conflict.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: ‘Gunfire, bombs every night’ — caught between Meiteis & Kukis, Muslim village wants peace