Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of an Indian journalist in the northeastern state of Manipur who has been held for more than two months over a Facebook comment about an online dispute between the wife of a regional government minister and another woman with whom the minister reportedly has a relationship
Kishorechandra Wangkhem, a reporter for the regional news portal The Frontier Manipur, has been held ever since 20 September because of the comment he posted on 3 September. He should have been brought before a judge on 24 November but the hearing was postponed at the request of the police.
In his post, Wangkhem simply wondered whether the online dispute could have electoral consequences for the minister because his wife is from a minority tribal community, the Maram, who are nonetheless the majority in his electoral district, Senapati, whereas the other woman is a member of the Meitei, the majority ethnic group in Manipur as a whole.
The police arrested him on charges of sedition, criminal intimidation and “promoting enmity between different groups” under articles 124, 154 and 503 of India’s penal code, and then got a judge to postpone the 24 November hearing on the grounds that they needed more time to complete their investigation and because of a supposed “law and order problem.”
