Manipur: No let-up in protests; march to CM's home turns violent

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Manipur government’s handling of the spontaneous protests by students in the last two days over the death of two missing teenagers came under severe criticism amidst allegations of the use of excessive use of force by security forces.

As per emerging reports, an irate mob tried to storm Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s residence at his home constituency Heingang in East Imphal district late Thursday (September 28) night. However, alert security forces averted any major untoward incident stopping the protestors at Khabam Lamkhai, around 5km from the chief minister's ancestral residence. In a string of demonstrations of public outrage, another group tried to march to the Chief Minister's official residence in Imphal late night. Residents of Hatta Golapati Meitei Pangal took to the streets, protesting the brutal killings of students and inaction of the state government. In the melee, at least 16 protestors sustained injuries, with five being hospitalised.

The protests, organised by Golapati Hatta Youth Volunteers Organisation, began peacefully but escalated when demonstrators tried to march towards the Chief Minister's bungalow.

The march to the CM's home after protestors torched a BJP office in Thoubal district on Wednesday.

What triggered the protest

Over 100 students sustained injuries, including loss of sight, as the Rapid Action Force (RAF) that functions under the command of the state police used “brutal force” to quell the protests directed against the state government.

Meitei-dominated Imphal valley has seen protests since September 26 after photos of bodies of two Meitei students who went missing in July surfaced on social media. The RAF allegedly went berserk to disperse student protestors, who hit the streets demanding justice for the two slain students.

What security forces say

“Miscreants in the crowd used iron pieces and stones (marbles) against security forces. In retaliation, security forces used minimum force to disperse the congregation and fired some tear gas shells in which some people got injured,” Manipur police claimed on X (Formerly Twitter).

It also released on Wednesday night photos of iron pieces and glass balls allegedly used by “miscreants” against the security forces.

The photos and videos of the RAF’s action and the injured protestors, however, did not corroborate the police’s narrative of use of minimum force so much so that even the Manipur Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MCPCR) took serious exception to so-called use of “minimum force” and appealed to the security forces and police to be a “child friendly and protective force”.

Pointing out that protestors were mostly young girls and boys under the age of 18, the commission appealed to all “stakeholders and authority not to adopt widespread, systematic and institutionalized physical abuse”.

“The commission is of the opinion that the strategy and approach for controlling young student and child protestors must be different from adult protestors. As a matter of fact, the very interpretation of ‘minimum force’ needs to be redefined and reviewed contextually. For that matter, lathi-charge, tear gas shells and rubber bullets should not be used arbitrarily and abruptly against children and ordering to use such dangerous and deadly means as minimum force without justifiable ground realities against the young children is unwarranted,” the commission said in a general written appeal.

“If required, the security forces should use other less injurious means such as repeated convincing warning through loudspeaker, ensuring adequate barricades and water cannons as a last resort,” it said.

Instead of using these softer means, the police and the RAF allegedly applied brutal force to disperse protestors.

RAF under fire

An apex Meitei organisation Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) has condemned the “brutal act of RAF and security forces” against the students’ agitators.

It also saw a sinister “policy to wipe out all Meiteis” in the use of excessive force by RAF personnel though the specialised unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) functions directly under the control of the state administration.

Action would be initiated if security personnel used excessive force against the public, especially students, Chief Minister N Biren Singh told media.

“Though the chief minister assured action, it (the action) has not been seen yet,” said Mayengbam Dhananjoy, secretary of the Coordinating Committee for Cultural Fraternity, Manipur.

Not many are, however, willing to take the chief minister’s assurance seriously.

“It is ridiculous that chief minister is talking about taking action against the erring personnel. In fact, in all probability, excess force was used at the behest of the state administration as a kneejerk reaction because the spontaneous student protests were directed against the state government’s inaction that led to the killing of two students by Kuki militants,” said a human rights activist Onil Kshetrimayum.

Kshetrimayum said he would move the Manipur State Human Rights Commission seeking a probe into the alleged use of pellet bullets on student agitators and the role of the state government in the highhandedness.