'Frontier Manipur' editors booked for sedition over 'controversial' article

IMPHAL: Two editors of Frontier Manipur, an online news portal, were booked for sedition under the IPC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act over an article published on January 8.

According to media reports, M Joy Luwang, who wrote the article headlined “Revolutionary journey in a mess”, has also been charged under the same sections.

The Manipur police claimed that the author, M Joy Luwang “openly endorsed revolutionary ideologies and activities and expressed shock at the deteriorating character of the armed revolutionaries of Manipur in the last decade”.

Luwang has been accused of urging people of the state to become “true revolutionaries” and preaching about how they should behave.

Police said the author accused the groups of "falling prey to the Indian government's design of breaking their backbones" and for not striving towards the revolutionary ideals in which they were grounded.

They (armed groups) were falling for low-hanging fruits, the article read.

“His article clearly expressed sympathy and support to the ideologies and activities of the armed revolutionary groups and outrightly called the rule of law of the Union government and Centre as colonial law,” the FIR said.

Meanwhile, Imphal West Police Superintendent K Meghachandra Singh said the police has filed the FIR suo moto, on the article published.

According to the Scroll, while the FIR in the case was registered on Sunday afternoon, a police team, according to Frontier Manipur’s editor-in-chief Sadokpam Dhiren, landed up at the website’s executive editor Paojel Chaoba’s home early in the morning.

(Edited by Gabriel G Momin)