MPs Leishemba Sanajaoba and Angomcha Bimol Akoijam have slammed the report as “biased” and vowed to file complaints against PUCL in Delhi.
BY PC Bureau
August 28 — Several Imphal-based political parties and civil society groups have lodged formal complaints against the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), calling its recently released report on the ethnic conflict “biased” and “misleading.”
The Manipur People’s Party (MPP), one of the state’s oldest regional outfits, filed an FIR at Imphal police station on Wednesday. In its complaint, the MPP alleged that the 694-page report unfairly portrayed the Meitei community, ignored key incidents, and was “one-sided.” The party said the report overlooked the killing of six people — three women and three children — by alleged Kuki-Zo militants near the Barak River in 2024.
READ: PUCL Report Under Fire: Cong MP Akoijam Says It Fuels Division, Ignores Ground Realities
The Republican Party of India (Athawale), Manipur unit, also lodged a separate FIR, accusing the report of undermining peace efforts and inciting communal tension. It said the omission of cases such as the disappearance of two Meitei students, Linthoingambi Hijam and Phijam Hemajit Singh, raised serious questions about the report’s credibility.
Similar objections came from Mayanglangbam Boby Meitei, president of the People’s Alliance for Peace and Progressive, who accused PUCL of excluding references to “narco-terrorism” activities allegedly carried out by Kuki-Zo factions. He further alleged that the report ignored the destruction of forest offices and government properties in the state.
Two Members of Parliament — BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Leishemba Sanajaoba and Congress’s Inner Manipur MP Angomcha Bimol Akoijam — also criticised the tribunal’s findings, describing the report as “biased, insensitive, and an attempt to malign the Meitei community.” Both MPs said they would file complaints against PUCL.
READ: KNO Leader Questions Manipur MP’s Stand on PUCL Report
The Communist Party of India (CPI), Manipur State Council, joined the criticism and announced plans to lodge an FIR. CPI leader L. Sotinkumar accused the report of “undermining the fragile peace process,” while pointing out that names of missing individuals, such as former journalist Atom Samarendra and social worker Yumkhaibam Kirankumar Singh — presumed dead by the government — were absent from the document.
The PUCL report was released on August 20, 2025, in New Delhi by the Independent People’s Tribunal on the Ongoing Ethnic Conflict in Manipur, constituted in 2024. Chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice Kurian Joseph, the tribunal concluded that the violence which began on May 3, 2023, was ethnically driven and worsened by governance failures. It recommended legal action against those spreading hate propaganda and against authorities accused of failing to prevent the unrest.
