Manipur CM’s FIR threat stirs the hornet’s nest

IMPHAL, Jan 22 (NNN): The Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Sunday strongly reacted to Manipur chief minister’s alleged threat to lodge FIR case its president K Meghachandra for visiting the office of the superintendent of police of Kakching district in connection with the arrest of five police personnel with a huge consignment of drugs on January 16.
Addressing a press conference in the Congress Bhavan here, former MLA and veteran Congressman Okram Joy said that they never expected “such an unfortunate threat”.
He said that visiting a government office by an elected member is not a crime or sin, but it is widely governed by principle and convention and is permissible by law and practice.
He observed that lodging FIR against an MLA for rendering his service amounted to a breach of privilege. It is a breach of privilege of a people’s representative in a democratic country like India, he also said.
Joy also said that there is a provision in the Indian Constitution that discusses in detail the entry to any government or public offices by elected members of the state assembly or the parliament in a specific chapter.
Taking part in the press conference, MPCC president K Meghachandra said that he had visited the SP office only to appreciate him for his achievement in the seizure of drugs from the police personnel and in support of the government’s ‘war on drugs’.
The MPCC president clarified that he or his team did not organize a media briefing inside the SP’s office but he did meet some journalists who were in the SP office to cover the drug-seizure incident.
“On their insistence, I expressed my comment in connection with the drug seizure case as an MLA as well as the president of a political party,” he added.
The comment too was in support of the police and the government’s war on drugs, said the MPCC chief.