Supreme Court directs no coercive action against retired Colonel in FIR against him for book on Anglo-Kuki War

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that no coercive action be taken against retired Colonel Vijaykant Chenji in the criminal case registered against him in connection with his book, The Anglo-Kuki War 1917-1919, published in 2019..A Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued notice in the matter. .Appearing for Chenji, Senior Advocate Anand Grover submitted that the lawyers appearing in the case before the High Court had to withdraw after their chambers were ransacked.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the Court to consider the broader implications and the "pattern" of such incidents. He also requested the CJI to ask the Secretary General of the Court to inquire whether or not the Manipur High Court was functioning properly..In response to the concerns raised by Grover, the Court assured protection from coercive action for Chenji until the next date of hearing."Issue notice. Mr Anand Grover submits that he will file an affidavit stating that it is not possible to engage a lawyer to appear before the High Court. Protect from coercive action till next date of hearing. Serve the standing counsel of State of Manipur.".The Bench also extended the same protection to another petitioner, a professor who is implicated in the same case.In reply to SG Mehta's contention that the petitioners should have approached the Manipur High Court, the CJI emphasized,"We have to satisfy our conscience that lawyers are not appearing, then we can arrange legal aid also. I will not let Supreme Court become a Section 482 CrPC (inherent powers of High Court) court...we are conscious of that.".The plea moved by Chenji stated that he was never served a copy of the first information report (FIR) registered against him for the book. This, according to him, infringed his fundamental rights, prompting him to move the apex court.He claimed that the registration of the FIR against him at the behest of a complaint filed by an organization called Federation of Haomee, was aimed at harassing and persecuting him at a time when the State of Manipur has been besieged by sectarian strife..Manipur has recently seen violent clashes between the Metei community and the Kuki community, which is a Scheduled Tribe.On April 19, 2023, the Manipur High Court had ordered the State government to consider inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, sparking protests and violence in the State.