After Assam Rifles complaint IPF officer faces sedition charges

Guwahati: A criminal case with sedition charges has reportedly been registered against Jagat Thoudam, an Imphal-based politician and adviser to the Indigenous People’s Front, for publishing an opinion column that accused the Assam Rifles unit at Mantripukhri of orchestrating the ongoing crisis in Manipur.
According to a report in The Hindu, a column, published on May 31 in The Frontier Manipur newspaper and various news portals, alleged that the Assam Rifles was providing protection to “cookie terrorist outfits” based in Myanmar.
The Imphal West Police Station on June 12 registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Thoudam under Sections 124A and 153A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), for promoting sedition and enmity between different groups.
The complaint has been lodged by the Inspector General of Assam Rifles (South) Headquarters in Mantripukhri.
After communal violence erupted in Manipur on May 3, various Meitei groups accused the Assam Rifles, the country’s oldest paramilitary force, of aiding Kuki insurgent groups, with the central and Manipur governments suspending operations (SoO) agreement on hold.
To combat the spread of “fake news”, a dedicated team has been deployed to identify and flag misleading content in social media and news articles.
Internet access has been suspended in Manipur since May 3.

At present, 97 columns of Assam Rifles are deployed in Manipur, of which 48 columns are deployed in Meitei dominated areas and 49 columns are deployed in Kuki dominated areas.
During the initial wave of violence, more than 15,910 displaced persons sought shelter in Assam Rifles camps, of which about 58 percent belonged to the Meitei community.

In response to the circulation of misinformation about the ongoing ethnic clashes, the Manipur government issued an order on May 30 warning that those spreading misinformation would face sedition charges.