Daijiworld Media Network - Imphal
Imphal, Sep 7: Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh on Monday said the state government is examining cases of unlawful and criminal activities involving individuals in connection with the ethnic violence that broke out in the state in May 2023.
Participating in a short-duration discussion moved by Opposition Congress MLA Kangujam Ranjit Singh in the Manipur Assembly, Khemchand Singh said the unprecedented violence that erupted on May 3, 2023, compelled many youths to take up arms.
“While some of them had good intentions, there could be others who indulge in criminal activities,” he told the House.
The Chief Minister said the government has not declared Village Volunteers in the hills and valley, or ‘Arambai Tenggol’, as banned organisations. He clarified that police have not registered cases against individuals merely on the basis of their affiliation with these groups.
He said arrests made by the police were based on individual involvement in criminal activities.
Khemchand Singh said the Manipur Police was a strong force in the past, but its morale had declined following the unprecedented ethnic crisis. The government is now taking steps to strengthen the police force, he added.
However, he said the government could not withdraw criminal cases registered against individuals during the ethnic violence.
“The cases invoked against individuals will be studied one by one and it will take time,” the Chief Minister said.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Konthoujam Govindas Singh reiterated the government's 2024 decision not to prosecute individuals who were not involved in heinous crimes such as attacks on security forces, extortion, murder, rape or other serious criminal activities.
He said protecting youths who were not involved in heinous crimes was the responsibility of the government.
The Home Minister said individual cases would be examined by the government and maintained that police were not harassing people allegedly involved in the crisis.
Rejecting the Opposition's allegation of harassment of youths, Govindas Singh said the Chief Minister had already instructed the authorities concerned to release, after questioning, individuals named in suo-motu cases registered by various investigating agencies, including the NIA, at the earliest.