Home » Court Revokes NSA, Manipur Journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem to be Released from Jail

Court Revokes NSA, Manipur Journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem to be Released from Jail

by Salam Chingkheinganba
1 comment 2 minutes read

IT News

Imphal April,8,

CJM Imphal West revoked the charges against Kishorechandra Wangkhem, jailed under the National Security Act (NSA), more than four months after he was imprisoned for criticising chief minister N. Biren Singh on social media.

Kishorechandra, 39, has been in the Sajiwa Central Jail in Imphal East since November 27 last year.

The journalist had condemned the chief minister for organising a function to commemorate the Queen of Jhansi battle against the British and linking it to the freedom movement of Manipur.

Earlier on November 21, 2018 Wangkhem, then working as an anchor-reporter with ISTV, a local news channel, was arrested by Imphal West Police in response to a video he had uploaded on social media, criticising the BJP-led state government

Manipur Journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem, who was detained under the National Security Act last month, has been sentenced to one year in jail under the law for targeting PM Modi in a social media post.

Wangkhem’s lawyer told news website Scroll that his family will challenge his sentencing on Wednesday.

Wangkhem was detained on November 27. About a week before his detention, he was arrested by the Manipur Police for posting a video critical of Chief Minister N Biren Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Facebook, Scroll reported.

In the video, the Chief Minister lashed out at the CM, calling him a “puppet of Modi and Hindutva” for organising a function to mark the birth anniversary of Rani Lakshmibai.

Wangkhem was arrested under sections 294 and 500 of the IPC in addition to section 124 A, which deals with sedition. On November 25, a local court released him on bail on the ground that his words were “mere expression of opinion against the public conduct of a public figure in a street language”, The Wire reported.

However, he was re-arrested by the police and detained under the NSA. He has since been lodged at the central jail in Sajiwa.

On December 17, members of the Manipur Students Association, Delhi and Manipur Muslim Students Union staged a protest outside the Manipur Bhavan in Delhi opposing the detention of Kishorechandra, The Wire reported.

The Indian Journalists Union and the Press Council of India condemned Kishorechandra’s detention and demanded his release, the report said.

You may also like

1 comment

raj April 8, 2019 - 3:29 pm

Opinions are doing rounds among general public, dnt know how much is true and how much is false that he has earn the political popularity by his stunt and that he is a “voice” now for those who believes in democracy and that they have right to differ in opinion as long as law court upholds that and not by politicians who comes and goes.

Reply

Leave a Comment

ABOUT US

Imphal Times is a daily English newspaper published in Imphal and is registered with Registrar of the Newspapers for India with Regd. No MANENG/2013/51092

FOLLOW US ON IG

©2023 – All Right Reserved. Designed and Hosted by eManipur!

Adblock Detected

Please support us by disabling your AdBlocker extension from your browsers for our website.