Manipur editor held over Moreh report gets bail after 3-day custody

IMPHAL: Dhanabir Maibam, the arrested editor of a language daily in Manipur that had published a report highlighting repeated attacks by armed groups on state and central forces in the border township of Moreh, got bail on Sunday after three days in police custody.
The article in Hueiyen Lanpao, headlined "Manipur Police lack bullets in Moreh", led to Dhanabir being charged under the IPC with promoting enmity on grounds of religion and race, besides criminal conspiracy.He was also booked for offences under the Official Secrets Act of 1923.
The week before Maibam was picked up, a suo motu complaint led to the arrest on December 29 of Wangkhemcha Shyamjai, editor-in-chief of the language evening daily Kangleipakki Meira. Shamjai, a former president of the All Manipur Working Journalists Union, was released on bail on December 31 after being in custody for three days.
Multiple women's groups, including the Apunba Meira Paibi of Mayang Imphal, Thawai Mirel, and the Universal Mothers' Organisation, protested the arrest of journalists reporting on law and order in the strife-ridden state.
The organisations underscored the importance of free speech and editors' freedom to play their designated role of showing reality.
Imphal: Dhanabir Maibam, the arrested editor of a language daily in Manipur that had published a report highlighting repeated attacks by armed groups on state and central forces in the border township of Moreh, got bail on Sunday after three days in police custody.
The article in Hueiyen Lanpao, headlined "Manipur Police lack bullets in Moreh", led to Dhanabir being charged under the IPC with promoting enmity on grounds of religion and race, besides criminal conspiracy. He was also booked for offences under the Official Secrets Act of 1923.
The week before Maibam was picked up, a suo motu complaint led to the arrest on December 29 of Wangkhemcha Shyamjai, editor-in-chief of the language evening daily Kangleipakki Meira. Shamjai, a former president of the All Manipur Working Journalists Union, was released on bail on December 31 after being in custody for three days.
Multiple women's groups, including the Apunba Meira Paibi of Mayang Imphal, Thawai Mirel, and the Universal Mothers' Organisation, protested the arrest of journalists reporting on law and order in the strife-ridden state.
The organisations underscored the importance of free speech and editors' freedom to play their designated role of showing reality.