Protest erupts in Imphal over murder of two students; internet suspended, schools shut
The Hindu
In Manipur, two Meitei students were killed in July, leading to protests. Mobile Internet services were suspended and police fired tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. The case was handed over to CBI, but 24 legislators from Manipur asked for expeditious action to bring the guilty to justice.
Scores of students were injured in Imphal as police fired tear gas shells to disperse a crowd that had gathered to protest the killing of two Meitei students who went missing in July. The photos of the bodies of the two friends surfaced on social media a day ago. Manipur government said the two students were “murdered.”
State Government ordered the closure of all schools in Manipur in September 27 and 28 in wake of the “prevailing law and order situation.” Mobile Internet services were suspended again for five days shortly after being restored on September 23, as many as 143-days since the ethnic violence between the tribal Kuki-Zo and Meitei people erupted on May 3.
On September 26, State police and central security forces conducted raids to trace the bodies of the two at Joujangtek in Bishnupur district, their last known location.
According to an August 2 report by Imphal police on “progress of investigation,” the two friends were last seen clicking selfies and photographs near a stone quarry at Laikha on July 6.
The report said that some Kuki village volunteers of Joupi village advised them to return home but the 20-year-old man went to a Kuki bunker looking for a banned substance. “In no less time, some armed Kuki militants in a four wheeler jeep/gypsy arrived and took them to an unknown place,” the report said.
Police said in its report that no eye-witnesses could be found during the investigation and they could not easily visit the suspected place of occurrence of crime “as the areas are mostly dominated by the Kuki militants.” The report, based on information provided by “sources” and examination of an unnamed police official, added that the State Investigating Agency was “handicapped in carrying out the investigation” as the case involved “armed Kuki Militants ”adding that the probe should be handled by highly trained and resourceful investigating agency such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which can “access all areas of the country to book and prosecute offenders by appropriate law of the land.” The case was handed over to CBI the same month. Police has handed over the call detail records and other evidence collected so far to the CBI.
According to the report, part of an application filed by a Meitei group in Supreme Court, the 17-year-old girl’s father had initially registered a case of abduction and the 20-year-old deceased was named as a suspect. The case was filed after the girl did not return home from tuition classes.