Mobile internet services suspended in Manipur for 5 days, Section 144 imposed in two districts - Here’s why

New Delhi: The Manipur government on Saturday (August 6, 2022) suspended mobile data services suspended in the entire state for 5 days. According to an order issued by Special Secretary (Home) H Gyan Prakash, Mobile data services have been suspended for five days across Manipur after one van was reportedly set ablaze by 3-4 youths, suspected to be of a community, in Bishnupur. 

The state home department said that the crime has created a tense communal situation and volatile law & order situation in the state. The administration has imposed Section 144 CrPC in the Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts for the next two months.

In an order issued yesterday, the department said that an incident occurred on Saturday at 3:35 pm at Pjhougakcho Ikhai Awang Leikai along Tiddim Road NH-02. A vehicle was set ablaze by 3-4 men at Phougakchao Ikhang on Saturday evening. The crime has created communal tension, the order said.

Manipur | Section 144 CrPC imposed in the Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts for the next two months after 3-4 people torched a vehicle in Phougakchao Ikhang last evening. pic.twitter.com/WjY5mTOio4 — ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2022

Tension has been brewing in the state after All Tribal Student Union Manipur (ATSUM) imposed an indefinite economic blockade along the national highways of the landlocked state on Friday morning.

The student body had been demanding that the Manipur (Hill Areas) Autonomous District Council Bill 2021 be tabled in the Assembly.

The imposition of the indefinite economic blockade prompted a valley-based organisation Meitei Leepun to lock the Imphal office of ATSUM on Friday afternoon.

Meitei Leepun claimed that the blockade targets the valley area of the state.

(With agency inputs)