After spending over four months in jail, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA T. Thangzalam Haokip, 71, has now been granted statutory bail in a case registered against him for allegedly trying to instigate violence in the first few weeks of the ethnic conflict in Manipur.
A local court in Imphal granted statutory bail to the former legislator from the Kuki community, his son, and one other accused in an October 4 order after noting that the police had been unable to bring charges against them even after 134 days.
The Manipur Police had accused Mr. Haokip, his son and two others (both from the Kuki-Zo community) of conspiring to threaten women vendors of a different ethnicity at the Checkon Tribal Market of New Lambulane on May 22.
In the case, the police said Mr. Haokip allegedly instigated two youths to take up weapons and threaten the women vendors, adding that they had recovered weapons from the accused.
At the time of the arrests, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh had held Mr. Haokip responsible for trying to trigger more violence in the already tense State.
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‘No chargesheet filed’
However, granting statutory bail to Mr. Haokip, his son and one other accused, the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Imphal East district ruled that the police had been unable to file a chargesheet in the case against the accused, and that they were entitled to statutory bail under Section 167(2)(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure because the offences they had been accused of had a sentence of less than 10 years and they had served the statutory period of 120 days in judicial custody.
The prosecution agreed that the statutory period of imprisonment had lapsed and admitted that no chargesheet had been received by their office till now. However, the prosecution insisted on imposing “stringent conditions” on the accused, “considering the present situation of the State”.
The court thus granted bail to the three accused on a personal bond of ₹2 lakh and two sureties of the like amount each. It directed them to not leave the State without the court’s permission, and prohibited them from influencing witnesses or tampering with evidence. It added that they must appear before the police or the court when called, and asked them not to indulge in any similar acts.
Despite being granted bail on October 4, Mr. Haokip managed to reach his home in Churachandpur district only six days later, with those close to him saying that he had to wait for days to get a helicopter ticket from the valley to Churachandpur.
The Manipur High Court had last month denied bail to Mr. Haokip, his son and one other accused in this case, on grounds that the complaint was corroborated by statements given to the police and that it might not be safe to grant bail given the situation in the State.
However, days after this order, a special NIA court had granted bail in a UAPA case to accused from the Meitei community, one of whom had a history of involvement with armed cadres of proscribed secessionist outfit People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The accused had been arrested on September 16 while travelling in an SUV with arms and ammunition stolen from Manipur Police armouries, and dressed in police camouflage.
