• Source:PTI
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Manipur Violence: A special court in Manipur has granted bail to five people arrested for carrying sophisticated arms, after there were mass protests in the twin districts of Imphal East and Imphal West, calling for their release.

The men were released on bail after furnishing a PR bond of Rs 50,000 with certain conditions, news agency PTI reported citing officials. The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in its order stated that the five accused must fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation, make themselves available before the investigative authorities, and "not influence prosecution witnesses."

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The court also imposed a restriction prohibiting the youths from leaving the strife-torn state without obtaining permission. It also denied a remand request for judicial custody from the Manipur police.

The five men were reportedly arrested after they were found suspiciously driving an SUV. A search revealed that they were found wearing camouflage uniforms, which are used by the security forces and carried various sophisticated weapons. The police have also recovered several rounds of ammunition from their car.

Following the arrest of these men, massive protests broke out in the twin districts of Imphal East and West. A curfew was imposed in these areas of the northeastern state a day before the court’s decision.

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The curfew relaxations were cancelled in the twin districts after thousands of agitators, mostly women attempted to storm police stations and started mass court arrests in five valley districts including Bishnupur, Thoubal, Imphal West, and Imphal East, and Kakching.

Earlier, the residents and civil society organisations imposed a 48-hour lockdown in the Valley from Tuesday, demanding the release of the arrested men.

Over 160 people have been killed while several others injured ever since the ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3 after the tribals of the Kuki community attended a ‘Solidarity March’ to protest against the inclusion of the majority Meitei community in the ST category.