For the most battle-hardened, specialised and successful counter-insurgency army in the world, this is an unfamiliar, first-time experience of dealing with the north east's deepest complexities, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted protection from any coercive action to a retired colonel against whom an FIR was lodged by the Manipur police allegedly on the basis of the contents of his book published in January 2022.
The development came two days after Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said that a decision has been taken to provide security to the farmers who will start the cropping season.
Manipur Police have so far arrested five persons in connection with the May 4 parading of two tribal women in Kangpokpi district of the state, officials said on Saturday.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday came down heavily on Manipur high court judge Justice MV Muralidaran, saying despite being granted an opportunity he did not correct his judgment on grant of quota to the majority Meiteis in the strife-torn state.
"The violent mob vandalised all the houses and burnt them to the ground after looting all the moveable properties," the FIR lodged at Saikul police station claimed.
The Bharat Nyay Yatra will be mostly covered by bus along with short stretches of walking.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's convoy was on Thursday stopped by the Manipur police at Bishnupur, about 20 kilometres from Imphal, officials said.
The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA was extended by another six months in Manipur on Wednesday barring 19 police stations falling under the Imphal valley and an area that shares its boundary with neighbouring Assam.
Responding to media queries on the development, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that "such interference in India's internal affairs is unacceptable, and reflects a colonial mindset".
Often during the day or night, there is intermittent firing where these groups are taking shots at these quadcopters, available freely in the market, the officials said.
'Modigate is snowballing into a huge thing with the electorate. The BJP is in for huge punishment by the electorate.'
There is the problem of regions in the North East being theatre for power-play by nations with borders and influences converging in those parts, which in turn requires a sizable presence of the armed forces, notes Shyam G Menon.
A vacation bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Rajesh Bindal said the high court is already seized of a similar issue.
The officials said that in the present environment where two communities are attacking each other, they may not find even a lawyer to defend them as all courts were within Imphal valley.
Noting that Gandhi had claimed that armed forces can restore peace in the state within days if allowed, BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad wondered if he wanted what his grandmother and then prime minister Indira Gandhi had done by ordering the Air Force to drop bombs in Aizawl in the 1960s.
'It will be the end of the Congress after the Lok Sabha election.' 'Many Congressmen and even Communists will move to the BJP.'
The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that it has transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the probe into a case related to two women being paraded naked in strife-torn Manipur, saying the approach of the government was of zero tolerance towards any crimes against women.
Stating that the Centre was not adamant when it came to people's welfare, Reddy said that it even withdrew three Farm Laws when agriculturists demanded the repeal of the controversial regulations.
A women's rally outside the Imphal residence of Union minister R K Ranjan Singh turned ugly when the protestors threw stones at it demanding that he speak in Parliament about the situation in the ethnic strife-affected state.
The three were gunned down while they were sleeping and later slashed with swords at Kwakta in the district, the police said on Saturday morning, adding that the assailants came from Churachandpur.
A group of people torched the office building of the Range Forest Officer in Tuibong area around midnight, and several fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, they said.
A tagline below this adds "feel free to do so", an indication that questions will not be asked how the weapons were in their possession of those who drop by in the first place.
The editorial in Saamana said the "Wagner group" has shown dictatorship can be challenged.
At least 25 miscreants with arms, ammunition and grenades have been rounded up by Indian Army and paramilitary forces across ethnic-strife riven Manipur, officials said on Monday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the situation in Manipur with Chief Minister N Biren Singh and top officials, even as the Centre dispatched additional security forces and anti-riot vehicles to maintain peace there, sources said.
A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, led by the agency's Special Director Ajay Bhatnagar, will reach Imphal in a special flight on Wednesday to investigate the 'kidnapping and killing' of two students who went missing in the northeastern state on July 6, sources said.
Shah, who is closely monitoring the situation in Manipur, had a telephonic conversation with Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who briefed him in the morning about the prevailing scene in the state and steps being taken to restore normalcy.
State information and public relations minister Dr RK Ranjan said combing operations have been launched in all districts, particularly in vulnerable areas.
India has incurred the third highest losses globally due to Internet shutdowns in 2023.
It asked the state government to file a fresh status report on relief, security, and rehabilitation measures to help violence-hit persons.
The Army, Assam Rifles, CAPFs and local police have been deployed in vulnerable places.
Altogether 45 students were injured in Manipur's Imphal Valley on Tuesday as the police fired tear gas shells and baton-charged a mob protesting against the killing of two youths who were allegedly kidnapped in July, officials said.
The four, including the wife of the main accused, were taken 'outside the state' by a special flight, Singh said.
Protest rallies erupted in Imphal with thousands of students marching towards the centre of the city, sloganeering against the kidnapping and killing of two youths for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is ahead in 20 seats in Manipur, with Chief Minister N Biren Singh leading by a handsome margin of more than 16,000 votes against his nearest Congress rival in Heingang constituency, Election Commission data showed.
'We cannot accept that this incident was not in the knowledge of the home ministry.' 'If they had no knowledge about this incident, then it is a big intelligence failure as the Union home ministry has no idea what is going on in Manipur and what the state police is doing.'
It was a muted Independence Day celebrations because of the dawn-to-dusk general strike called by multiple militant outfits and the loss of lives and property of hundreds of people over the last three months in the ethnic strife.
In a separate incident, a tribal woman had lodged a complaint at Saikul police station, stating that her 21-year-old daughter and her 24-year-old friend were allegedly raped by a mob at their rented house near Konung Mamang before brutally murdering them on May 4.
A man who was part of the mob that paraded naked two tribal women in Kangpokpi district of Manipur and was seen dragging one of them was among four persons arrested on Thursday as the incident of May 4 drew widespread condemnation.
