GUWAHATI: The court of Special Judge (National Investigation Agency), Imphal East in Manipur on Friday granted bail to five youths whose arrest triggered fresh tension in the ethnic violence-hit state.
The five men were arrested by the police last week for possessing weapons and donning camouflage uniforms. The court granted them bail after they had furnished a PR bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety of like amount.
The court directed the accused persons to cooperate with the investigation, make themselves available before the investigating authority, not to influence prosecution witnesses or leave the state without its prior permission and appear before the investigating officer every 15 days.
In its order, the court said, “So far, there is no material to show that the accused persons have committed terrorist acts which can be punished under section 16 of the UA(P) Act except mentioning of being a member of the terrorist organisation against the accused person No.1 only, but so far, all the accused persons have not yet committed any illegal and prejudicial acts against the state as they are all arrested by the police when they entered prejudicial activities against the State.”
The court also said that the investigating officer “cannot show strong prima facie case against all the accused persons for the commission of terrorist acts and prejudicial activities against the State attracting section 16 UA(P) Act and section 121-A of the IPC as of now.”
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The arrest of the youths had kept the Imphal valley on the edge until Thursday. Protestors, mostly members of Meira Paibi (Meitei women torchbearers) and local clubs, had enforced a 48-hour bandh till midnight of Wednesday demanding the release of the persons.
The next day, they attempted to storm police stations in different parts of the Imphal valley to court their arrest. They claimed the five men were village volunteers who were guarding their villages from attacks by Kuki-Zo militants.
During scuffles with police and Rapid Action Force personnel, the protesting women said they were also village volunteers and should be arrested. They asked if village volunteers are arrested, who will protect the Meiteis living in villages close to Kuki-majority hills.
