Imphal: A police complaint has been lodged against three individuals who were part of a fact-finding team from the Editors’ Guild of India, which had visited Manipur to investigate media coverage concerning the ethnic conflict in the region. The case asserts that the report submitted by the team is “untrue, concocted and financially backed.” This inquiry was facilitated through crowdfunding and now faces scrutiny for purportedly containing “false and fabricated” information.
The complaint was officially registered with the police in the Imphal West district, implicating the trio under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including charges of fostering hostility between diverse groups and deliberately utilizing a deceitful declaration, acknowledging its falsehood.
The Editors’ Guild of India (EGI), in the controversial report that was disclosed on Saturday, underscored indications of the state leadership’s bias during the period of conflict. The report criticizes the state government’s alleged partisan stance, stating, “The government faltered in fulfilling its democratic duty of representing the entire populace by becoming a partisan entity during the conflict,” along with several other critical observations encapsulated in its conclusive remarks.
N Sarat Singh, a prominent social activist based in Imphal, initiated the First Information Report (FIR) against the visiting team members – Seema Guha, Sanjay Kapoor, and Bharat Bhushan, who were in Manipur from August 7 to 10 for the investigation. The complaint also implicates the president of the EGI as a co-accused.
Further, the FIR has pointed out an alleged misinformation in the EGI’s report where a photograph depicting a blazing building in the Churachandpur district was labeled as a “Kuki house”, stirring controversy and instigating legal action against the involved individuals.