Four days after Manipur student activist Veemon Thokchom was arrested from his residence in Delhi for a Facebook post over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, an Imphal court on Tuesday released him on bail noting that the post was not seditious.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Ningthoujam Lanleima remarked that the content of Mr. Thokchom's Facebook post “cannot be stated to bring into hatred or contempt, or excite or attempt to excite disaffection towards the government”. “At the most, the accused mention the incident of burning of Assembly with approval, but I don’t find any attempt or incitement to commit violence,” the judge said.
As a condition for his release on bail, the judge has directed him not to commit an offence similar to the one he is accused of.
Following the court’s order, Mr. Thokchom was released during the day and reached his home in Manipur around 4 p.m.
Mr. Thokchom, 24, was arrested by a joint team of Manipur and Delhi Police on February 15 from his rented residence in Saket, Delhi.
Second such case
Mr. Thokchom is the second case in recent months where the Manipur government has booked individuals for sedition, an offence which entails a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
In December last year, Manipur journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhemcha, who had posted an alleged offensive Facebook post on Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, was booked for sedition and later detained for 12 months under the National Security Act.
