Over 1,500 human rights activists, civil society leaders, journalists, academics and lawyers from all over India on Tuesday signed a joint statement condemning the first information report (FIR) filed in Imphal against a fact-finding team of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) for concluding that the violence in Manipur was “State-sponsored”.
The three members of the NFIW team – general secretary Annie Raja, national secretary Nisha Sidhu, and independent Delhi-based lawyer Deeksha Dwivedi – were on July 8 booked by the Manipur Police under penal provisions for conspiracy to wage war against the Government of India, assaulting President/Governor with the intent of compelling them to exercise a power, making statements prejudicial to national integration, defamation and promoting enmity among two groups and inciting riots.
