The Indian police in Manipur state have filed criminal allegations in opposition to four journalists, saying that they misrepresented factual data in a report about the dreadful fights between two ethnic parties sometime agi in 2023. The four were senior journalists working on a report for the Editors Guild of India that was aiming to analyse how coverage of violence in the state was happening. The report, which was released in September, stated that there “are proper gestures that the leadership of the state became partisan whilst the fight was happening”.
The chief minister of Manipur, Mr N. Biren Singh, on Monday alleged the journalists of attempting to “trigger disputes” with the report. The journalists – Ms Seema Mustafa who is president of the Editors Guild, Ms Seema Guha, Mr Bharat Bhushan and Mr Sanjay Kapoor – failed to be constantly reached for remark. The guild did not at the moment revert back to an appeal for remark. The Press Club based in India, located in New Delhi, said that the charges be withdrawn, saying, “This is a strong-arm notion by the state government which amounts to menacing of the apex media body of the nation”.
Around 180 people have lost thier precious lives in Manipur after dreadful ethnic disputes happened in May between members of the majority Meitei ethnic group and minority Kuki community because of sharing of financial privileges and quotas. Meiteis account for half of Manipur’s 3.2 million-strong population, and elongating restricted affirmative action quotas to them would mean they would recieve a part in education and government jobs that have so far been reserved for Kukis and Nagas.