A man, identified as Kishorchandra Wangkhem, also known as Wangkhemcha Wangthoi, was recently sentenced to six months imprisonment and a fine over a controversial Facebook post he made in September 2020. Wangkhem had been detained under the National Security Act in 2018 and was later charged with sedition after he made a derogatory remark against the Maram Tribe in his Facebook post. The post led to a complaint being filed by the Maram Women Union with the Senapati police station under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Schedule Caste & Schedule Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
After his anticipatory bail was rejected, Wangkhem was arrested by the police in October 2020. Following the case on 2nd May 2023, the special Judge Senapati ordered his sentencing of six months imprisonment and a fine. The Public prosecutor argued that such offenses are increasing day by day and further submitted that Wangkhem had been convicted under Section 3(1)(r) of the Schedule Caste & Schedule Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and that the minimum punishment for such cases is six months.
It is believed that the controversial post was made by the wife of a politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party in response to a derogatory comment made by a Meitei woman close to her husband. The politician's wife, who identifies herself as a woman from the Maram community of the state's Senapati district, had made the post on Facebook.
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