After a Hyderabad University professor and academic, Kham Khan Suan Hausing gave an interview to a news portal, an Imphal court initiated criminal proceedings against him for allegedly flaring "communal tensions". The Supreme Court agreed to hear the professor's plea to quash the summons issued on July 31.
The court of chief judicial magistrate Imphal East issued a summons to the professor on July 6, accusing him of "defaming the Metei community during an interview with journalist Karan Thapar on 'The Wire,'" according to a report by LiveLaw. He is facing charges under Sections 153A (promoting enmity on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, or language), 200 (knowingly declaring somethhing false), 295(A) (deliberate acts to outrage religious feeling), 298 (verbally outraging religious feelings), 505(1), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, according to the report.
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In his interview to the news portal on June 17, the professor told Karan Thapar that in order to resolve the deep-seated issues underlying the persisting violence in the state, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh must resign from office and a separate administration must be created for the minority Kuki community.
The charges against him were filed by Manihar Moirangthem Singh, a member of the Meitei Tribe Union, who alleged that the professor made false statements to defame the Meitei community.
In a tweet put on July 7, the professor said, "If a majoritarian state and its regime chose to use its coercive monopoly of power to silence truth and violate human rights with impunity, we have to remain united, reclaim and fight for these."
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While the hearing was originally slated for today, due to the Chief Justice's absence, the hearing could not take place as planned.
