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Security has been tightened in response to the violations in different parts of Manipur. (photo: PTI)
Senior officials said there were 70 killings among these initial information reports. There is a limited number of staff available to conduct investigations because the priority is to maintain law and order in the country hit by violence
Manipur Police has recorded at least 6,000 cases since ethnic violence broke out in the northeastern state on May 3. Among these FIRs in different police departments, mainly against unknown persons, there are 70 killings, according to senior sources.
Police said a total of 657 people were arrested from Imphal Valley and surrounding hill areas in cases related to the clashes in different districts. According to senior officials of the Manipur administration, 70 murder cases have been recorded at various police stations.
But in such a large number of cases, only about 2,000 sub-inspector officers in Manipur are authorized to conduct investigations. Officials said that since maintaining law and order in the state is more important to police, in extreme cases, investigations have not started or are still at an early stage.
The sources claimed that there are individuals who have been posted or chosen to be posted in areas of their community; Some even left their primary police station because they were in the jurisdiction of another community.
“Almost every day we record about 75 cases but we have a limited number of staff to investigate them. These staff are also deployed to maintain law and order. Also, we are not keen on sending policemen from one community to another community area where there might be danger to their lives. In case we are able to arrest an accused, transportation is also a difficult task because, in many cases, the locals forcibly release the accused,” said a senior official.
Sources also said that in many cases, “zero FIR” was recorded as in the sexual assault case where two tribal women were shown naked – and video of the incident went viral – and one of them was allegedly gang-banged. In another case involving the murder of two women, the police registered “zero informal information” on charges of rape. But sources said, so far, it has not been found if there was any sexual assault even with a forensic report pending.
Another issue facing the police is keeping the accused in jail. Sources also said that there is only one permanent prison in Imphal but arrangements have been made in case there are more arrests.
We have prepared temporary prisons in different areas, in the event of a large number of arrests or the risk of life in transferring the accused from one place to another. A senior official said that these prisons are close to the camps of the security forces News 18.
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