"Disturbing Trend": Kuki Students' Body Condemns Case Against Indian-Origin Professor

A key student organisation of the Kuki tribes has condemned the filing of a police case in Manipur against an Indian-origin professor based in the UK over alleged attempts to incite communities in the border state.

The Delhi chapter of the Kuki Students' Organisation (KSO) in a statement today said the police action "represents a disturbing trend where individuals and organisations exposing the malpractices of the Biren Singh led-Manipur government are unjustly targeted."

The accused, Uday Reddy, a Computer Science professor in the University of Birmingham, has been working online to create tension between communities on religious grounds in Manipur with his online messages and talk sessions on a social media platform, according to the first information report (FIR) filed by a resident in the state capital Imphal.

"Uday Reddy... has consistently presented unbiased views and authentic history of both the Kuki and Meitei communities of Manipur. His objective and factual discourse has evidently threatened Meitei propagandists who find themselves unable to counter his truths with their misinformation," the KSO said in the statement.

"The professor's activism on social media has never been about vilifying the Meitei community. Rather, it has been about shedding light on the complex truths surrounding the Manipur violence..." the KSO said, referring to the charges against Mr Reddy that alleged he "deliberately with malicious intention insulted the Meitei's religious beliefs and promoted enmity between the Meiteis and other communities on religious ground."

On X (formerly Twitter), a notice on Mr Reddy's profile page shows the account has been "withheld in India in response to a legal demand." X policy states that such action is usually taken on a court order.

The KSO said the complaint against Mr Reddy is an attempt to silence him and prevent him from further enlightening the Kuku youth.

"... We urge the authorities to recognise this complaint for what it is: a tactic to intimidate and suppress a voice of truth. We demand the immediate withdrawal of the complaint and call for an end to such unjust actions against individuals who seek to bring to light the historical and present-day realities of Manipur," the Kuki student body said.

The complainant in the FIR has requested Indian authorities to contact Mr Reddy's workplace and inform them about the "criminal acts committed by him against India", adding a lookout circular (LOC) to monitor entry and exit points in India should be issued. An LOC is used to prevent anyone with a criminal record or wanted in an investigation from leaving India.

This is not the first time the account of a professor abroad has been withheld by X over a legal demand in India. The X account of Sweden-based Indian-origin professor Ashok Swain, a fierce critic of the Indian government's policies, was withheld in August 2023.

A huge narrative battle has been raging on social media since May 2023 when ethnic violence broke out between the valley-dominant Meitei community and nearly two dozen tribes known as Kuki - a term given by the British in colonial times - who are dominant in some hill areas of Manipur.

Over 220 have been killed and nearly 50,000 have been internally displaced.