Tribunal set up to adjudicate ban on Manipur insurgent groups

New Delhi, Dec 15: The Centre on Saturday set up a tribunal to adjudicate matters related to a ban imposed on Manipur insurgent groups collectively known as the 'Meitei Extremist Organisations'.

In a notification, the Home Ministry said the tribunal, which has been set up under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, will be headed by Delhi High Court Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal.

It said the purpose of the tribunal was to adjudicate whether or not there was sufficient cause to declare the Meitei Extremist Organisations as Unlawful Association. 

On November 13, the Centre extended the ban on the extremist groups, whose aim is to secede the state from India, by five years.

The organisations, their factions, wings and front organisation were outlawed under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The groups are the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and its political wing the Revolutionary People's Front; the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and its armed wing the Manipur Peoples' Army; the People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) and its armed wing the 'Red Army'; the Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) and its armed wing also called 'Red Army'; the Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup (KYKL); the Coordination Committee (CorCom); and the Alliance for Socialist Unity Kangleipak (ASUK). 

The organisations were blamed for 756 violent incidents and the killing of 86 persons, including 35 security personnel, from January 1, 2013, to July 31, 2018.

The Ministry took the action "in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (37 of 1967)" and declared the Meitei groups as unlawful associations with immediate effect.