IMPHAL, Feb 26: Local women bodies or meira paibis have staged a sit-in-demonstration at Khurai Lamlong Bazar in Imphal East district demanding unconditional release of six persons arrested by the police in connection with a recent arm looting case.
A mob stormed the post of 5th IRB at Chingarel in Imphal Easton the night of February 13 and allegedly looted around 15 different types of arms with ammunition. The next day the police arrested the six persons allegedly involved in the case. They are currently in jail after a local court remanded them to judicial custody till February 28.
Claiming that the accused are innocent and have been earning their livelihood by engaging in available work, various women bodies have been pressing the state government to release them without any condition.
Exerting pressure on the state government, a large number of womenfolk who came from different parts of Imphal East district on Sunday staged a protest at Khurai Lamlong Bazar.
‘Accusing after arrest is unacceptable’, read one of the placards displayed at the protest site. Others carried the slogans ‘Release the innocent civilians’, ‘Arresting civilians unacceptable’, etc.
Talking to the media, L Gyaneshwori Devi, a woman leader, said that the six persons arrested by the police are innocent.
“They are not involved in the incident. They were just passing by the road on their way back home after the day’s work when they were arrested. Moreover, no arms were recovered from them,” she claimed.
They must be released without any condition, she said while threatening to intensify the agitation if they are not released after the next hearing scheduled on February 28.
Regarding the current turmoil in the state, the women leader criticized the incumbent government for its ‘inability’ to protect the lives and properties of the civilians.
Civilians are compelled to take up arms to protect the settlements in the peripheral areas of the valley after the government failed to protect them, she said.
If they are not meant for safeguarding the civilians, it would be better to withdraw the central security forces deployed in the peripheral areas, she said.
She suggested that the state government should strengthen its security forces so as to ensure protecting the lives and properties of the civilians. (NNN)
