President's rule failed to maintain peace in Manipur, alleges Congress
Imphal (PTI): Amid protests over concealing the state’s name on the windshield of a government bus, Manipur Congress president Keisham Meghachandra alleged that the President's rule has "failed" to maintain peace in the state.
He also claimed Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, who took charge in January this year, should be recalled by the Centre.
The Centre had on February 13 imposed the President's rule in Manipur after Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned, following a prolonged ethnic violence in the state.
The state assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, has been put under suspended animation.
In a post on X, Meghachandra, the Wangkhem MLA, alleged, "Double-engine government had already failed Manipur for the last more than 2 years. President's Rule, too, has failed Manipur. Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly fails Manipur. Home Minister Amit Shah should resign. Manipur governor should be recalled."
The term “double engine” is used by BJP leaders to refer to the party being in power at the Centre as well as in a state.
The Congress leader's remarks come at a time when the state has been witnessing protests for the last few days over the concealing of the state’s name on the windshield of a government bus last week.
The protesters have been demanding an apology from the governor for the May 20 incident.
The security personnel had stopped the bus at Gwaltabi check post, around 25 km from Imphal, and allegedly forced the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) staff to conceal the state’s name written on the top of the vehicle’s windshield with a piece of white paper.
The bus with journalists on board was heading to the Shirui Lily festival in Ukhrul district on May 20 when the incident happened.
Referring to the Gwaltabi incident, Meghachandra said, "Who instructed Manipur Governor to remove the word 'Manipur' from the Manipur State Transport Corporation bus?"
To intensify their protest, students and women's groups had on Monday formed a human chain, covering a stretch of six kilometres from Imphal airport to Keisampat, around 200 metres away from the governor's residence.
In view of the demonstration, the governor, who had arrived in Imphal from New Delhi on Monday, had taken an Army helicopter to reach Kangla Fort, located around 300 metres from the Raj Bhavan.
In a post late on Monday, Meghachandra also said, "Manipur Governor had to take a helicopter to fly from Imphal International Airport in order to reach Raj Bhavan, which is around 7 km by road travel from the airport, today."
More than 260 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Meiteis and Kuki-Zo groups since May 2023.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
