Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has said that his government has filed an FIR against the Editors Guild of India (EGI) over a misleading report on ethnic clashes in the state.

The FIR was lodged against the president and three members of the EGI and accused them of trying to create more clashes in the state which is on the boil owing to the ongoing ethnic strife for nearly four months. Those booked are the President of the EGI Seema Mustafa, and three members – Seema Guha, Bharat Bhushan, and Sanjay Kapoor.

During a press meeting on Monday at Imphal, the CM made the announcement a day after one Ngangom Sarat Singh, a resident of Imphal West (September 3) filed the First Information Report against the President of EGI and the EGI’s Fact Finding team. The team came to Manipur and assessed the prevailing situation in this strife-torn state from August 7 to 10.

The report found that journalists in the state wrote one-sided reports that were often biased against the Kuki-Zo minority community. Ngangom Sarat Singh states that a complaint was raised against them for the commission of offenses punishable under Section 153-/200/295/298/505/505(1)/499/120-B of the IPC among others.

Meanwhile, the All Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU) and the Editors Guild Manipur (EGM), the two apex bodies of journalists in the state, have strongly criticised the EGI’s reports hitting back that it was motivated allegation based on hearsay.

The CM said that the EGI team should have met the representatives of all communities and not some sections only before coming to a conclusion.

The two apex bodies of journalists in Manipur have also issued a point-by-point clarification to the EGI’s allegations.
The two bodies take strong exception to the half-baked so-called fact-finding report of the Editors Guild of India, EGI, completed in merely four days. The report has many contentions and wrong representations which are damaging to the reputation of the journalist community in the State, especially Imphal-based news outlets.