Manipur court asks lady cop, media against making, publishing defamatory remarks on CM

A court in Manipur has issued a direction to a woman police officer not to make any defamatory statements against CM N Biren Singh. She had earlier accused the CM of pressuring her to release an alleged drug dealer.

Imphal: A Manipur court has directed a woman police officer not to make any "unsubstantiated and ex-facie defamatory" statements against Chief Minister N Biren Singh whom she had accused of pressuring her to release an alleged drug dealer.

In his order on Wednesday, Y Somorjit Singh, Civil Judge, Senior Division, directed Thaounaojam Brinda, a Manipur Police Service officer, and 10 other defendants, including some newspapers, to desist from making "orally, reporting or republishing" imputations and allegations made in an article published on July 14. The court was hearing a petition by Singh seeking an order restraining the officer from making "defamatory" statements against him and blocking content related to the allegation in media.

The newspapers had published an article based on an affidavit filed by Brinda where she had claimed the Chief Minister had pressured her to release the alleged kingpin of a drug racket Lukhosei Zou.

"The remarks, imputations and allegations made by the defendants against the plaintiff in the aforesaid articles are of such nature that it will definitely malign and degrade the reputation of the plaintiff's personal and political career.

"It seems the defendants published the article without verification and substantiation of the contents of the affidavit dated July 13 which was lying in the defective list of High Court of Manipur," the judge said in the order.

The officer had also allegedly made some uncharitable remarks against the judiciary following which the special judge of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) court had approached the Manipur High Court for contempt action against her.

PTI report