In yet another tragic incident, a police officer was killed in Manipur’s Moreh on Tuesday after he was shot at by suspected militants. The incident occurred when Moreh Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Chingtham Anand was inspecting a newly constructed helipad at the Eastern ground in the border town.

Reports stated that the SDPO was taken to a primary health centre in Moreh where he succumbed to his injury. The police officials have launched an operation to apprehend the militants.

Speaking about the matter, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that he is saddened by the cold-blooded killing of Anand. The Chief Minister conveyed that he is deeply saddened by the cold-blooded killing of SDPO Chingtham Anand, OC Moreh police this morning. He added that Anand’s dedication to serve and protect the people will always be remembered. He further ensured that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.

Reports stated that the incident comes days after members of several civil society organisations, especially those based in Moreh, demanded the removal of state forces from the border town.

The northeastern state of Manipur has witnessed widescale violence after clashes first broke out on May 3 in Churachandpur town. The violence erupted after tribal groups called for protests against a proposed tweak to the state’s reservation matrix, granting scheduled tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community.

The violence gradually spread across the state, where ethnic fault lines run deep. Nearly 175 people have died and more than 50,000 have been displaced in the state since then. Furthermore, hundreds of homes have been burnt, businesses lost, studies affected, places of worship burnt to a cinder, and the state has lived without internet for months.

Officials further stated that mobs looted 5669 types of arms and around 500,000 rounds of ammunition from police stations and armouries. Reports said that only around 1300 of them were recovered until the first week of October.

Hundreds of students took to the streets in Manipur’s capital, Imphal to protest against the brutal murder of two students by suspected armed men. The students demanded justice for the victims. According to reports, photos of two students, who apparently have been decapitated, have gone viral across the social media platforms.

The protesting students tried to march towards Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s residence, after which security forces used tear gas shells and smoke bombs in an effort to disperse the crowd. Reportedly, multiple students were injured and they were hurried to the hospital for medical treatment.  

The photos that have gone viral show two students, a 17-year-old girl and a 20-year-old boy, sitting at the grassy compound in what appears to be a makeshift jungle camp of an armed group.The girl is seen in a white shirt and the boy in a checked shirt holding a backpack. Behind them, two armed men were clearly visible. 

In the next viral photo, their bodies are seen slumped on the ground. According to reports, as the girl was a minor, officials concerned to the matter are looking into the allegations of rape, before she was murdered. 

Meanwhile, N Biren Singh led Manipur government has asked the people of the northeastern state to exercise restraint and allow authorities to investigate the kidnapping and killing of both the students. In a statement issued by the secretariat of Chief Minister N Biren Singh late on Monday night, the state government asserted that the case has been already handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). 

In addition, the government also assured the public that swift and decisive action will be taken against all those involved in the crime. The statement further underlined that the government was committed to ensuring justice for the murdered students and severe punishment on any perpetrators found responsible for this heinous crime.

In a major development, Chief Minister of Manipur N Biren Singh announced on Saturday morning that mobile internet services in the state would be restored from Saturday, nearly five months after they were banned in view of the communal violence that broke out in the state.

As far as reports are concerned, the internet services, both mobile internet and broadband, were banned in the northeastern state of Manipur on May 3, the day when the violence first broke out. The ban on internet services was first imposed for a period of five days and continued to be extended for five days at a time, underlining the law-and-order situation in the violence-hit state.

According to The Indian Express report, a member of Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s team stated that the decision has been relayed to the relevant teams and it is likely that mobile internet service will resume within a few hours. While mobile internet services, which is how most people access the internet, have been banned continuously for the past four-and-a-half months, broadband services had been conditionally restored following a government order on July 25.

During that time, while creating provisions for the restoration of broadband services, the order had stated that the suspension of mobile internet services would continue to be in place, mentioning that there are yet apprehensions that the spread of disinformation and false rumours through several social media platforms and sending bulk SMS, for facilitating and or/mobilization of mobs of agitators and demonstrations, which can cause loss of life and/or damage to public/private property.

In the last month, the Manipur High Court had also directed the state government led by N Biren Singh to devise a mechanism for facilitating internet services through mobile phones by whitelisting the mobile numbers on case-to-case basis and in a phase-wise manner.