Guwahati: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Manipur on Friday granted bail to five Meitei men who were booked under stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and whose arrest last week had sparked widespread violence and 48-hour shutdown in Imphal valley.
The five accused were released on bail after furnishing a personal bond of ₹50,000 and a surety of the like amount. The special judge, however, placed certain conditions, including asking the accused to co-operate with the investigation and not to leave Manipur without prior permission.
The accused had donned police uniforms at the time of their arrest on September 16. Two weapons — an INSAS rifle and a self-loading rifle — along with 128 rounds of ammunition were recovered from them which, security officials said, were looted from police armouries in the initial days of the ethnic strife in Manipur in May and June.
Relying on the Supreme Court ruling in Arnesh Kumar versus state of Bihar prescribing bail conditions, the special NIA court said the accused had not committed any “illegal and prejudicial” activities against the state till the time of the arrest.
“The investigating officer of the case cannot show strong prima facie case against all the accused persons for the commission of terrorist acts and prejudicial activities against the state attracting Section of 16 UA(P) Act and Section 121A of the IPC [Indian Penal Code] as of now,” the court said in its order, reiterating apex court’s “bail is the rule and jail is the exception” pronouncements.
{{/usCountry}}“The investigating officer of the case cannot show strong prima facie case against all the accused persons for the commission of terrorist acts and prejudicial activities against the state attracting Section of 16 UA(P) Act and Section 121A of the IPC [Indian Penal Code] as of now,” the court said in its order, reiterating apex court’s “bail is the rule and jail is the exception” pronouncements.
{{/usCountry}}To be sure, there are two stringent conditions to be met before an accused booked under UAPA can be granted bail. A court must record a prima facie satisfaction that the case against the accused does not appear to be prima facie true and the public prosecutor has to be given an opportunity to oppose the bail plea.
The court mentioned that the public prosecutor opposed the bail plea saying release of the accused could “hamper the investigation by tampering evidence, threat and intimidation of witnesses’ ‘, and sought their judicial custody. However, the court said the report of the investigating officer described them as “village defence volunteers”. “It is also submitted that so far, the IO also cannot establish any prejudicial activities committed by the accused persons except mentioning of being a member of the outlawed organisation as against the accused No.1 only…”
The accused have been identified as Moirangthem Anand Singh (45), a member of Kangleipak Communist Party (Noyon), a banned militant outfit, Keisham Johnson (35), Konthoujam Romojit Meitei (28), Loukrakpam Michael Mangangcha (30) and Athokpam Kajit (39).
According to the bail order, the accused have told the police that they did not know the person who gave them the arms and ammunition, which they claimed, were only for purpose of safety of the community.