Manipur police file FIR against Assam Rifles for blocking their search operations
News reports also said that the police accused the forces 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 August 5 against “personnel of 9th battalion of Assam Rifles” after they stopped the police from “discharging their law bound duty”.
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Assam Rifles withdraw from checkpoint
Assam Rifles personnel were withdrawn from a checkpoint in Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Monday (August 7) after Meitei women protested against the central paramilitary force, accusing them of brutality.
The Assam Rifles personnel were based at Moirang Lamkhai checkpoint in Bishnupur, where fresh violence erupted last week. They have been withdrawn and substituted by the CRPF and the state police, a notification said.
The notification, issued by Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) L Kailun on Monday, said “the checkpoint at Moirang Lamkhai on the Bishnupur-Kangvai road shall be manned by the civil police and 128 Bn CRPF in place of 9 AR with immediate effect and until further orders”.
News agency PTI reported that a response from Assam Rifles was awaited.
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Several groups of women in the valley districts launched a demonstration on Monday, demanding the removal of the paramilitary force from the ethnic strife-torn northeastern state. They blocked a road at Hodam Leirak and Kwakeithel in Imphal West district and Angom Leikai and Khurai areas in Imphal East.
In related news, the administrations of Imphal East and West districts increased the curfew relaxation by two hours on Tuesday. The curfew has been relaxed in Imphal East and Imphal West from 5 am to 2 pm, officials said. For Thoubal district, it will be relaxed from 5 am to 4 pm, and for Kakching, it would be from 5 am to 5 pm.
More than 160 people have lost their lives and several hundreds injured since the ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3, after a Tribal Solidarity March was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals Nagas and Kukis constitute a little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts.
(With agency inputs)