DIMAPUR, MARCH 24 (MExN): Protesting Kuki youth who were yesterday hospitalized after Police in Delhi resorted to lathi-charge were today taken into custody and produced in court, informed sources said. 17 students were reportedly brutally beaten up by the Delhi police. The detained protestors have been charged under different sections of the law. Monday is likely to produce a result as no definite outcome could be announced today.
A group of students seeking the release of more than hundred protestors, and who brought a lawyer to the Police Station, were also detained, sources said.
A press conference was also called at Delhi today where Outer Manipur MP Mani Charenamai and student representatives briefed the media. Though Mani has sought an appointment with the Union Home Secretary, it has not materialized as yet, it was informed. The presence of Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh in the capital has also not produced any tangible results, sources added.
As a consequence of the protest which turned violent yesterday when Kuki students took to the streets demanding the release of around 400 villagers purportedly held captive by the UNLF and the Myanmar junta, several individuals and organizations have submitted complaints to the National Human Rights Commission seeking redress against the injustices, sources further said.
“What is very disturbing is that these students were already in the bus when the police drag them down from the bus and beat them up very badly. The police broke all the window glass too,” a source said. People are restricted to enter the premises of the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital but some persons posing as family managed to get in after heavy arguments at the entrance.
“The students were in the most unimaginable condition. Blood stains are all over their clothes.” Stitches, bleeding, swelling are the pictures that some ‘visitors’ encountered.
The policemen, according to the sources, were taking the names of the injured every other second.
A woman who was grievously injured on the head said the last thing she remembers before she lost her consciousness was somebody taking away her cell phone, reliable sources narrated. ‘The police touched them all over their bodies. Some of the girls ran away with torn blouses. The police tore their blouses.’
Two MPs from Manipur visited the hospital but they have not been able to get the students out from police custody.
