The Manipur government announced on Wednesday that it will charge and prosecute anyone seen spreading violent photos and videos on social media, three days after a video of a Kuki-Zomi man being burned surfaced on social media platforms.
The seven-second video, which began circulating on social media and WhatsApp on October 8, shows a man’s body set on fire in Manipur. Police investigations link this video to May 4, following ethnic clashes in the state. The incident is related to the same period when mobs reportedly stripped and sexually assaulted three Kuki-Zomi women.
The victim in the video is identified as 37-year-old Laldenthanga Khongsai, from the Kuki-Zomi-dominated Kangpokpi district. The exact circumstances of his burning remain unclear, pending government confirmation.
According to PTI, orders issued by the Secretariat, Home Department, stated that the decision was made “to thwart the activities and intentions of anti-national and anti-social elements, ensuring peace, communal harmony, and the prevention of loss of life.” It was emphasized that taking appropriate measures in the public interest had become necessary to maintain law and order by curbing the dissemination of disinformation and rumors across various social media platforms.
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The action came on a day the state government extended the suspension of mobile internet services in the state for another five days, till October 16, citing “apprehension that some anti-social elements might use social media extensively for transmission of images, hate speech and hate video messages inciting the passions of the public which might have serious repercussions for the law and order situation” in Manipur, as reported by Indian Express.
Mobile internet services were initially suspended after a wave of violence erupted in the state on May 3. They were subsequently reinstated on September 23, following an announcement by Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
However, mobile internet services faced another suspension on September 26 due to public protests in the Imphal Valley, sparked by the widespread circulation of images depicting the bodies of two missing students. In contrast, the ban on broadband services that had been in effect since May 5 was partially lifted in mid-July.
(With PTI inputs)