Meitei man's execution video could inflame unrest, Manipur high court orders removal

The state said the video showed the killing of Mayanglangbam Rishikanta Singh, a member of the Metei community from Kakching Khunou in Kakching district.

The Manipur High Court has directed the authorities concerned to remove a video showing the execution of a Meitei man allegedly by members of a banned Kuki group who abducted him and his Kuki fiancee, noting that the circulation of such clip could disrupt public order in the strife-torn state.

Manipur HC orders removal of Meitei man’s execution clip from social media (Representative image/AP)

A single bench of justice Aribam Guneshwar Sharma passed the order on a writ petition filed by the Manipur government seeking the video’s removal from all social media platforms. The plea was submitted through the Manipur Commissioner (Home), represented by the Advocate General.

In the petition, the state said the video showed the killing of Mayanglangbam Rishikanta Singh, a member of the Metei community from Kakching Khunou in Kakching district. The video had been widely circulated on various social media platforms and could instigate communal flame between members of the Meitei and Kuki community, it said.

The state, in its plea, requested the court to direct the Centre through the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the Director General (cyber laws and e-security), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), as well as social media companies such as Meta, Google/Youtube and Whatsapp, to take immediate action to remove or block the video .

On January 21, armed members of the United Kuki National Army (UKNA) abducted Rishikanta and his Kuki fiance Chingnu Haokip from Churachandpur’s Tuibuong, took them to Natjang, and shot dead the man even as he pleaded with them to spare his life, security officials said. The killing was captured on camera, and the clip circulated.

Rishikanta’s killing has reopened old wounds in the northeastern state, where ethnic violence has left over 260 people dead and 60,000 displaced since May 2023.

During the hearing, the counsel representing the deputy solicitor general told the court that had already issued an order on January 22 to block the video and related content. The order was issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, read with the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009, based on inputs received from the MHA.

The high court permitted the state to serve notices on the remaining respondents, and noted that since MeitY had already acted on the information received from the MHA’s nodal officer, the immediate relief sought by the state had been addressed.

“As per MHA, the URLs are from social media platforms which have come to notice as the same are disseminating videos of brutal killing of a man in Manipur, with the potential to disturb public order.” the order said.

The court directed the Union of India and concerned ministries to submit updated information on or before the next date of hearing regarding the progress of the blocking order and compliance by intermediaries. The matter has been listed for further hearing on February 18.