Manipur Viral Video Row: Union Minister RK Ranjan Singh's House Attacked In Imphal; 2nd Time In 2 Months
Union Minister's House Attacked In Imphal: The incidents occurred days after a video showing two women being paraded naked and molested by a group of men on May 4 in Kangpokpi district surfaced on July 19, attracting condemnation countrywide.
Imphal: A women's rally outside the Imphal
residence of Union minister R K Ranjan Singh turned ugly when the protestors
threw stones at it demanding that he speak in Parliament about the situation in
the ethnic strife-affected state. This is the second time in two months that
the house of the junior minister for external affairs came under attack.
Students of Manipur University too took out a rally during the day demanding
restoration of peace in the state. The police fired tear gas shells to disperse
them as the youths crossed an area up to which permission was given to them to
hold the rally.
The incidents occurred days after a video showing two women being
paraded naked and molested by a group of men on May 4 in Kangpokpi district
surfaced on July 19, attracting condemnation countrywide.
However, nobody was present at the house at the time of the
attack and not much harm was done to it. Security personnel posted at the house
in Kongba locality in Imphal town dispersed the protesters who also sought
restoration of internet services.
“We demand that the minister speak in Parliament about the
situation in the state. We want internet services back. We want to tell people
what is happening to us,” one of the protestors said.
The authorities banned
internet services across the northeastern state for the first time on May 3
when clashes between ethnic communities began. It is being extended from time
to time “to prevent any disturbance of peace and public order.”
A mob had attacked the minister's residence and tried to
burn it down on the night of June 15. Security guards and firefighters managed
to control arson attempts and save the house.
A section of the students of
Manipur University organised a rally in Imphal town demanding restoration of
peace in the northeastern state.
The rally organised by the
Manipur University Students' Union started from the gate of the varsity at
Canchipur here.
Police said they had permission to go to Kakwa, around two kilometres away. The
students, however, wanted to continue the rally beyond Kakway and till Singjamei,
some four km away from the varsity gate.
The police fired tear gas
shells to disperse the rallyists when they tried to cross Kakwa and head
towards Singjamei, leading to a heated exchange of words between the officers
and the students.
The students protested the police action saying they were
unarmed and pursuing a peace rally. More than 160 people have lost their lives,
and several have been injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on
May 3, when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to
protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meiteis account for about 53
per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while
tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside
mostly in the hill districts.
News is originally taken from: https://bit.ly/46YDwWN
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