Three people have been killed and five others have been injured in the violence that erupted in Manipur’s Churachandpur town on Monday evening over the passage of three bills that seek to regulate the entry of outsiders in the state through a permit system.
Indefinite curfew has been imposed in the area. The homes of Manipur’s health minister Phungzathang Tonsing and five other MLAs were set on fire during the protests on Monday evening. The legislators homes were allegedly targeted because none of them objected to the bills in the state assembly.
Altogether seven houses were torched in the incidents that took place hours after the Assembly passed three bills to protect the indigenous people of Manipur. The bills are The Protection of Manipur People Bill, 2015, The Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms (Seventh amendment) Bill 2015, and The Manipur Shops and Establishments (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015.
A police officer said the houses of the MP of Outer Manipur Thangso Baite, the state’s minister-in-charge for Family Welfare Phungzaphang Tonsimg and five MLAs, including Manga Vaiphei of Henglep Assembly constituency and Vungzagin Valte of Thanlom, were torched.
In view of the situation, the administration imposed indefinite curfew in Churachandpur town, the officer said. One of the arsonists was hospitalised after sustaining serious injuries while trying to set fire to a house, the officer added.
Three tribal students’ organisations, which had called a 12-hour bandh in the hill districts to protest against the passing of some Bills in the Manipur Assembly, are suspected to be behind the arson, the officer said.