Imphal: The Manipur government on Tuesday reimposed the ban on internet services for the next five days, soon after police baton-charged students in Imphal during a demonstration against the alleged kidnapping and death of two youths. The police action left 45 students, many of them girls, injured, officials said.
Mobile internet services, which were suspended as ethnic violence erupted in Manipur in early May, were restored after over four months from September 23. “The state government decides to suspend/curb the mobile internet data services, internet/data services through VPN in the territorial jurisdiction of the state of Manipur for five days with immediate effect till 7:45 pm of October 1, 2023,” a notification said.
Altogether 45 students were injured in Manipur’s Imphal Valley on Tuesday as the police fired tear gas shells and baton-charged a mob protesting against the killing of two youths who were allegedly kidnapped in July, officials said.
The students of Imphal-based schools and colleges brought out the protest rallies hours after photos of the bodies of the two missing youths went viral on social media, demanding arrest of those involved in the killing. The photos surfaced on social media on Monday, following which the Manipur government has asked people to exercise restraint and allow authorities to investigate the “kidnapping and killing” of them.
More than 175 people have been killed and several hundreds injured since ethnic clashes broke out in the northeastern state on May 3, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal valley, while tribals, including Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.