Manipur: Over 400 BSF, CRPF personnel airlifted to strife-hit Manipur
Hindustan Times, Livemint's sister publication. Around 400 additional personnel of the Border Security Force and Central Reserve Police Force have been sent to Manipur even as the state government is repurposing the Churachandpur campus of the BSF as a temporary prison as the two regular jails are nearing capacity. The additional personnel were brought to Manipur in a C 130J and A 321 aircraft, an official told the daily.
The state government began preparing the temporary jail started on Sunday after the premises of the BSF’s subsidiary training centre in Churachandpur were declared as a temporary prison under the Prisoner’s Act,1984. (Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels. Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights! Click here!) The move to build a new prison has come after Manipur CM N Biren Singh urged people to return looted arms within 15 days, after which central and state forces would launch a drive to recover them.
According to the HT report, of the 5,668 weapons and nearly 600,000 rounds of ammunition looted from government armouries in May and June, police have recovered only 1,329 weapons and around 14,000 munitions. The government was willing to take a considerate view of those who submitted the weapons within 15 days. At present, Manipur's Sajiwa Central jail, which has a capacity of 850, currently has around 700 inmates.
While the women’s jail in Imphal has 115 inmates against a capacity of 350. Before the ethnic clashes started on May 3, there were less than 100 prisoners in Sajiwa, while the women’s jail held just three inmates. The ethnic clashes between the Kuki and Meiteis erupted on 3 May in Manipur during a protest against a court-ordered tweak
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