The Supreme Court today ordered the immediate release of Manipuri activist Erendro Leichombam, who was detained under the National Security Act in May this year for a Facebook post on the state BJP chief’s death from Covid-19, NDTV reported.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah has ordered his release by 5 pm today. Justice Chandrachud observed that Leichombam should be released as his continued detention “would violate the right under Article 21.”
The matter is also further listed for tomorrow after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the government, said that he was not contesting the plea but would file a response.
Leichombam, 37, along with journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem, was arrested on May 13 for allegedly alluding to BJP leader Saikhom Tikendra Singh’s death from Covid in a Facebook post. "Cow dung, cow urine didn’t work. Groundless argument. Tomorrow I will eat fish," the journalist’s post read, presumably taking a dig at Saikhom’s fellow Hindu nationalists who have peddled cow dung and cow urine as a Covid cure. Another post by Leichombam said the cure for coronavirus was “not cow dung and cow urine” but “science and common sense”.
According to Indian Express, Leichombam’s father L Raghumani Singh had filed a petition in the court arguing that the NSA was only invoked to defeat the bail earlier granted to him. In his petition, Singh stated that the invocation of the NSA in his son’s case was a “misuse of preventive detention law to stifle completely innocuous speech that is fully constitutionally protected and was made in public interest.”
He also said that the Facebook post was meant to curb misinformation around Covid-19 cures and that the statement was made as a “criticism of the unscientific position taken and misinformation being spread by several BJP politicians regarding cow urine and cow dung being effective in preventing/treating Covid-19.”
While a local court had granted him bail on May 17, an Imphal court ordered that Leichombam be detained under the National Security Act “until further orders” even as it granted him bail. The order by the district magistrate Th Kirankumar, stated: “…am satisfied that his activities are prejudicial to the security of the State and to the maintenance of public order.”
Also Read: Booked under the NSA, Manipur journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem has spent 100 days in jail
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