Snatched from cops and lynched: Traumatic accounts spill out of violence-hit Manipur

We are in the dark about what the police and the other government agencies are doing about the Hanglalmuan’s murder, says father of the youth

My son was beaten to death by the mob.... It is a case of custodial death, says Hanglalmuan's father.: File Photo

Devadeep Purohit, TT, Calcutta, 25.07.23 : Manipur’s horror accounts are piling up as bereaved citizens summon the courage to speak up.

Hanglalmuan Vaiphei, 21, was picked up for sharing a Facebook post in Manipur by police who got his incarceration extended by producing back-to-back FIRs. The youth was then beaten to death by a mob who snatched him from custody, his relatives told The Telegraph on Monday.

Hanglalmuan, son of a daily wage earner, was picked up from his home in Thingkangphai village in Churachandpur district on the night of April 30.

The young man bled to death on the roads of Imphal, around 60km from his home, on May 4, a day after clashes broke out in Manipur.

“No one from the police got in touch with us.... We have not heard anything from any other government agency. We are in the dark about what the police and the other government agencies are doing about the murder,” said Thangpiang, the father of the youth, still awaiting the body of his son 81 days after his death.

A senior police officer, who has been helping the family in its search for closure, told this newspaper: “His arrest was illegal because the police didn’t follow the rulebook while acting on the basis of a suo motu complaint.... The police broke all the rules to ensure the extension of his incarceration by producing another FIR, also suo motu, on the third day of his police custody. And then, the same state police failed to save him from a mob that lynched him.”

“This incident is an example of the complete breakdown of law and order in Manipur and the N. Biren Singh government’s failure in discharging its duties. The Centre should have sacked the chief minister long back,” the officer added.

He said the National Human Rights Commission took cognisance of a complaint lodged by the family. The panel’s secretary directed the district magistrate and the SP of Imphal West on June 1 to provide all related documents within six weeks.

What The Telegraph has learnt, based on conversations with Hanglalmuan’s relatives, the senior officer and some of the documents related to the case:

Mob fury

The mob intercepted the personal vehicle of an Imphal police officer in which the accused was being taken to Sajiwa jail on May 4 after a magistrate sent him to judicial custody. The crowd abducted Hanglalmuan.

“My son was beaten to death by the mob.... It is a case of custodial death,” said the father, who had lodged a complaint with Churachandpur police station about his son’s “illegal arrest” and custodial death on May 18.

This complaint is believed to have prompted the SP to move the human rights commission, following which the authorities of Imphal West district were asked to produce all documents related to the case.

The Imphal police station, which comes under this district, had got the custody of the youth by producing another FIR before a magistrate after Hanglalmuan completed three days in custody at Porompat police station, where he was taken.

“When the magistrate hinted that he would give him bail on May 4, the Imphal police produced another FIR and got his judicial custody, following which the police were taking him to Sajiwa jail,” said a police officer.

“But instead of taking him in a police vehicle, Hanglalmuan was being taken to the jail in the personal vehicle of the investigating officer.... On the way to the jail, around 7km away, the vehicle was stopped and the mob took away Hanglalmuan and beat him to death,” said the source.

The investigation officer described the entire incident in a report that he had sent to the officer-in-charge of Porompat police station on May 4, in which he also mentioned that he suffered injuries as the mob attacked him and other policemen.

The source, however, questioned the police’s decision to take him to jail on a day Imphal city was burning and armed Meitei groups were roaming the city to intercept people from the Kuki-Zo communities. “The officer could have kept him in the police station on the court premises or at the posts of the central forces guarding the court but he didn’t do that,” said the source.

According to him, it was a deliberate ploy by the police, through which they handed over the youth to the mob that was baying for Kuki blood.

FB post arrest

A team of officers from Churachandpur police station had reached the home of Hanglalmuan on the night of April 30 and arrested him around 11.15pm on the basis of an FIR filed with Porompat police station in Imphal. The FIR, filed at 10pm, accused the youth of a slew of charges -- such as spreading enmity between communities -- by sharing a Facebook post that was critical of the Meteis and the chief minister.

“No one from the police station where the FIR was filed was there to pick him up.... It takes around two hours to reach the youth’s home from Pormpat and so it was impossible for anyone from that police station to be present during his arrest. This suggests that just on the basis of verbal communication, the youth was picked up by Churachandpur PS,” said the senior officer.

Communication between the police stations indicates that the youth was handed over to Bishnupur police station and then to Porompat police station on May 1.

On the same day, he was produced in court, and the Porompat police got his custody for three days. Imphal police station, which had also drawn up a suo motu FIR, entered the scene only on May 4 when the youth was taken to the high court premises.

“The strange thing is the FIR of the Imphal police claims that it was registered at 10am on April 30 whereas the FIR that led to the youth’s arrest was registered at 10pm. The question is, why was the Imphal police station late in reacting to the FIR?” asked the source.

He has also asked why the police did not take any action on the person who first uploaded the post. “There was an FIR against an unknown person on the same night, who was running a Facebook page with a pseudonym.... It would have taken them an hour to arrest that person, but they didn’t and went after a youth who had merely shared it,” said the source.

This inefficiency of the police and its selective action, according to him, are the reasons behind the situation turning so volatile in the northeastern state.

He added that the Facebook account, from which the purportedly derogatory post appeared, has been deleted after the deceased youth’s father filed the FIR.

“They are now trying to hide this case as the irregularities over it have come out in the open.... All the documents related to the case are now out in the open and an independent inquiry will reveal the complicity,” said the source.