Imphal: The Manipur government has filed an FIR against the Editors Guild of India (EGI) over an alleged “misleading” report on ethnic clashes in the state.
Chief Minister N Biren Singh said on Monday that the government had filed the FIR against the EGI president and three members, accusing them of trying to create more clashes in the state, which has been on the boil for nearly four months due to the ongoing ethnic strife.
The FIR was filed by a resident of Imphal West district, Ngangom Sarat Singh, who alleged that the EGI report was biased and had damaged the reputation of the journalist community in the state.
The EGI report, which was released on September 2, found that journalists in Manipur had written one-sided reports that were often biased against the Kuki-Zo minority community.
The report also accused the government of failing to take adequate steps to prevent the clashes and of not providing adequate protection to journalists.
The EGI has denied the Manipur government’s allegations, saying that its report was based on interviews with a wide range of people, including journalists, government officials, and community leaders.
Press Club of India has strongly condemned lodging of a police case against three members of a fact-finding committee of the Editors Guild of India and its president on the media coverage of the ethnic clash and violence in Manipur.
The two apex bodies of journalists in Manipur, the All Manipur Working Journalists Union (AMWJU) and the Editors Guild Manipur (EGM), have also denied the allegations, saying that the EGI report was “misleading” and “full of inaccuracies”.