The Manipur government on Tuesday suspended internet services across the state for five days with effect from 3 pm today till 3 pm on September 15 amid rising student agitation and imposed curfews in Imphal East and West districts and prohibitory orders under Section 163 (2) of BNSS in Thoubal.

In order to prevent the spread of hate speech, images, and videos via social media platforms, the government has suspended internet services including mobile data, broadband, VPN services, and other communication lines.

“Temporary suspension/curbing of internet and mobile data services including Lease Lines, VSATs, broadbands and VPN services (were ordered) in the territorial jurisdiction of the state of Manipur for five days with effect from 3 PM of September 10 to till 3 PM of September 15,” the notification read.

According to reports, a large number of students from various schools and colleges have been protesting since Monday at the Khwairamband Women’s Market in Imphal, demanding action against those behind the recent drone and missile attacks.

Protesting students, calling for the protection of the state’s territorial and administrative integrity, could not march towards the Raj Bhavan today as they were stopped by security forces near the Congress Bhavan.

Home Minister Amit Shah’s effigy was burnt by the Manipur University students during a protest rally here.

According to officials, tear gas shells were fired at the protesting students including women as a clash with security forces erupted during the agitators’ attempt to march towards the Raj Bhavan to press for their demands to remove the DGP and security advisor to the Manipur government.

Education authorities stated that all government, aided, and private schools and colleges in Manipur will remain closed on September 11 and 12.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, speaking to a reporter on the situation, said Manipur is a part of India and Prime Minister Narendra  Modi has neglected the state as if it is not a part of India for him. It is very saddening, the former Bihar deputy chief minister said.

AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said: “The situation is very dangerous in Manipur. BJP is continuously protecting its CM N Biren Singh. PM Modi does not want to visit Manipur.”

Speaking to news agency PTI on situation, social activist Rohan Philem said, “I have been speaking actively on the crisis of Manipur which has been going on for almost 15 months. I just came here to inquire about the students. However, a lot of unnecessary havoc broke out today. According to my count, 15-20 students have been injured and one student died at the hospital premises.”

The Delhi Patiala House Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla MP Sheikh Rashid alias Engineer Rashid till October 2 in a terror funding case, ahead of Assembly elections.

The Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) leader Rashid was arrested by National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the stringent UAPA {Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act} in 2017.

Rashid, who has been in Delhi’s Tihar Jail since 2019, was arrested by the probe agency after his name cropped up during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali.

To campaign in the upcoming Assembly polls in the Union Territory, the AIP leader Rashid had moved the court seeking interim bail for exercising his rights.

According to the national probe agency, he was allegedly funding terror groups and separatists in Kashmir.  

Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin were among the names in the chargesheet filed by the NIA in the case.

In 2022, Kashmiri separatist leader Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, Engineer Rashid, contesting as an independent candidate, defeated former Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah from the Baramulla seat.

As the Union Territory is set to vote in the Assembly elections next week, Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party has recently released a list of candidates for nine seats in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. 

The list includes Abdul Qayoom Mir from Pampore; Harbaksh Singh from Tral; Sofi Iqbal from Pulwama; Molvi Fayaz Wagay from Zainapora in Shopian; Mohammad Arif Dar from DH Pora in Kulgam; Suhail Bhat from Devsar in Kulgam; Hilal Ahmad Malik from Dooru in Anantnag; Aqib Mushtaq from Anantnag West and Tawseef Nisar from Anantnag.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the defamation proceedings before a trial court against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor over his “scorpion on Shivling” remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and R Mahadevan issued notice to the Delhi government and the complainant BJP leader Rajiv Babbar in the case. The notice is returnable in four weeks.

Tharoor has moved the Apex Court against Delhi High Court order which refused to quash defamation proceedings against him on August 29.

The High Court in its order had noted that the comment made by Tharoor exemplifies that PM Modi is unacceptable with many in the RSS establishment and compares the expression of their frustration, as dealing with a leader with the characteristics of a scorpion possessing a venomous instinct.

The Court had further noted that Tharoor’s comments apparently not only defamed PM Modi, but the party represented by him, including RSS and the members of the party for having accepted the leadership.

The Congress leader had sought to set aside the trial court’s April 27, 2019 order summoning him as an accused in the criminal defamation complaint filed by BJP leader Babbar as also the November 2, 2018 complaint.

During the brief hearing, advocate Muhammad Ali Khan, representing Tharoor, argued that Babbar, or any other party member, could not be brought within the ambit of an aggrieved person under the defamation law when the person against whom the statement was issued has not taken any action.

Khan added that Tharoor’s statement was protected under the immunity clause of the defamation law, which laid down that any comment made in good faith was not criminal. According to the lawyer, Tharoor’s statement was borrowed from an article published on Modi in 2012 when the latter was the chief minister of Gujarat.

The criminal complaint was filed against Tharoor in the trial court by Babbar, who claimed that his religious sentiments were hurt by the Congress leader’s statement.

In October 2018, Tharoor had claimed that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Modi to “a scorpion sitting on a Shivling”. The Congress leader had said it was an “extraordinarily striking metaphor”.