Manipur govt files FIR against Fact Finding team of Editors Guild of India

Manipur CM N Biren Singh has accused the Fact Finding team of journalists of trying to further incite violence in the already conflict-hit state

In a big development, the Manipur Government has filed an FIR against a Fact Finding team of the Editors Guild of India (EGI) for allegedly trying to incite further unrest in the conflict affected state, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said addressing the media in Imphal today.

“If you (EGI Fact Finding team) want to do something, then do visit the spot, see the ground reality, meet the representatives of all communities and then publish what you found. Otherwise meeting some people, some section of people and coming to the conclusion is condemnable. That is why the state govt has filed an FIR against the members of the EGI who are trying to create more clashes in the state of Manipur,” CM Singh said.

Chief Minister Singh questioned the role of the Fact Finding team. He said, “How the Editors Guild of India concluded as a fact finding team? Who constituted them? They were never authorised to have a fact finding team and investigate Manipur issues. That is self-styled and it has nothing to do with the present crisis in Manipur.”

The FIR has been filed on the basis of a complaint filed with the Imphal (West) Police Station by Nganbom Sarat Singh, a social worker, regarding a caption in a photo in the report published by the Fact Finding team in its report.

The Editor’s Guild had recognised the error in caption and said on X (formerly Twitter), “We regret the error that crept in at the photo editing stage.”

There was an error in a photo caption in the report released on Sep 2. The same is being rectified and updated report will be uploaded on the link shortly. We regret the error that crept in at the photo editing stage

— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) September 3, 2023

The FIR has been filed against EGI members – Seema Guha, Sanjay Kapoor, Bharat Bhushan and President (Seema Mustafa) of Editors Guild of India.

The Manipur Chief Minister condemned what the Fact Finding team did. “The points which were raised and commenced by the Editors Guild of India is highly condemnable. We condemn it in the strongest terms. The Supreme Court has constituted many Commissions including one led by a retired Chief Justice and many judges. Above that the Government of India has also constituted a Commission of Inquiry headed by one retired Chief Justice. Investigation is on in different way in different places.”

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