The people of Sora village in Thoubal district, Manipur, in a statement charged a police team of Kakching police station with deliberately opening fire at a civilian vehicle killing one boy and injuring eight others on Thursday night. The Joint Action Committee (JAC) formed to spearhead agitations said that the police are misleading people saying that the boy was killed and others wounded in gun fights between the villagers of Sora and Meenou, a tribal village. The JAC press release demanded the arrest of Gnaeneswor Sharma, Sub-divisional police officer of Kakching police station and his team within 24 hours for booking under the relevant Act failing which it will intensify agitations.
The statement also said that the JAC is not happy with the police giving a doctored statement to the press stating the villagers of the two villages had exchanged fire on Thursday night.
The JAC press release said that Muslim male villagers were praying in the mosque. However, women in the village sighted some armed persons coming down the nearby mountain. The men rushed out and chased the armed persons whom they believed to be Naga tribals.
It also accused the police of cordoning off the Sora village knowing that the armed persons had fled. It alleged that some Muslim villagers who were returning in a mini truck after chasing away the intruders were fired at by the police.
A 12-year-old boy, Nizamuddin was killed and two others were wounded in a gunfight. With tension running high in the area, police and paramilitary personnel have been rushed there. People in the two villages are not allowed to venture out of their houses for the time being.
Relations were strained between inhabitants of Sora, a Muslim village and Meenou, a tribal village, after the July 2, 2013 murder of D.K. Musipha, a brother of D.K. Korungthang, MLA from Chandel district. Police arrested a Muslim youth along with the mobile handset of Musipha. He was charged with murdering the elderly man for gain. The two villages are located just a kilometre from each other.
