Sedition case against Manipur political activist over Facebook post on newly elected Rajya Sabha MP

“How does calling someone ‘servant’ fall under sedition? They are now going through all of my previous posts for legal justifications. I am afraid they will do the same to me - what they had done with Manipur TV journalist Kishore Chandra Wangkhem. He was in jail for almost a year,” said Leichombam.

Wangkhem was arrested under the National Security Act (NSA) for social media posts criticizing the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a video uploaded on Facebook, Wangkhem had reportedly called Chief Minister N Biren Singh “a puppet of PM Modi” - for celebrating Rani Laxmibai’s birth anniversary. He was first arrested in November last year and released in six days only to be sent to prison under NSA two days later. After his completion of one year jail term, Wangkhem was released in April.

A day after Leichombam’s Facebook post “went viral”, a team from Manipur police landed at the activist’s residence in Thangmeiband, Imphal West Sunday midnight.

“They came to our house and asked for Erendro. They also said it would be good if my brother takes down the post,” said Leichombam’s younger brother Sikendra.

Reacting to news of Imphal police registering a case against him, Leichombam once again took to Facebook late Tuesday evening to announce -  “You can imprison my body, but how will you imprison my mind?”

In a subsequent post, he further went on to say -

“MK Gandhi, Tilak, Arundhati Roy & Hijam Irabot. Today, I proudly join them. Sedition 124(a) is a colonial law. Biren Singhji is a puppet of Hindutva colonialism.”

Erendro Leichombam, who holds a Harvard postgraduate in economic policy, has an impressive fan following in social media. He had contested the Manipur Assembly elections in 2017 but lost. PRJA was formed in the same year with Irom Sharmila Chanu being the mascot of the regional party.

In 2018, Leichombam was arrested for refusing to take down a video containing inflammatory speeches from his Facebook profile - he had questioned Manipur Police for not arresting those who created the hate video and circulated it in social media.

The young activist was then booked under relevant sections of the IPC and IT Act for criminal intimidation and allegedly promoting enmity between different groups.

“They have tried to arrest me on uncountable occasions. They arrested me once. But this time it’s sedition,” remarked Leichombam.

In February 2019, a student leader from Manipur, Veewon Thokchom, was arrested in Delhi on sedition charges and later brought to Imphal. The 24-year-old student activist was booked for raising voice against the Centre’s intent to implement Citizenship (Amendment) Bill - a move that had witnessed massive protests across the Northeast. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) was later passed by the Indian Parliament on December 11, 2019.

The CAA amended the Citizenship Act of 1955, thus paving way for persecuted non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to avail Indian citizenship.