10 civil society organisations of Manipur on Sunday lodged a complaint against Mark T Haokip for defaming Rani Gaidinliu and urged the police for swift action.
The CSOs include ACOAM LUP, CLK, Kabui Mother’s Association, KANGLAMEI, KIL, KSA, IPAK, IPSA, PANDM and Zeliangrong Union (Assam, Manipur Nagaland) submitted a complaint to the Officer-in-charge Imphal Police Station against Mark T Haokip, president of International Human Rights Association, Manipur and coordinator Myanmar, for his derogatory and defamatory comment towards Ima Haipei Rani Gaidinliu on his Facebook and Twitter accounts on November 23.
The complaint said that “Padma Bushan awardee Ranima should not be laid down so cheaply by such a mere individual who seems to know little about the freedom struggle and the contribution made by great women of India in general and Northeast India in particular“. The complaint also urged the office for the arrest of the notorious culprit Mark T Haokip for creating social upheaval and potential to fan up public wrath.
The leaders of the CSOs have requested that the arrest should be made immediately and that the culprit should be put behind bars for his actions. The law should do justice to avoid civil unrest and to avoid such situations in the future.
Mark T. Haokip in his Twitter on November 23 tagged Amit Shah and commented that Rani Gaidinliu is a fake freedom fighter and that she is a criminal jailed for her crime. He later deleted his post and apologised for provoking the sentiments of the people, particularly to the Zeliangrong community.
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The apology letter of November 24 expressed wrong doing from his part stating that it was done unintentionally, and that his remark would provoke serious consequences and hurt the sentiments of the people especially the the Zeliangrong community. Mark T Haokip, while appealing the general public to accept his sincere apology and forgiveness had deleted the post about Rani Gaidinliu on November 23 itself, as per the statement.
Meanwhile, upon the pressure surrounding his arrest by CSO leaders in pushing the government to arrest him, Mark’s last available response from his Facebook handle ond November 28 said, “After accepting the blame and making a public apology since 24 November 2021, which is widely circulated in social media and sent to all leading newspapers in the state for publication, why some civil society leaders are still pushing the government to arrest me? What is my fault after making the apology statement? Why take chances to arrest me because I am defending human rights on different issues in the past? Seems it’s the idea behind someone else’s interest! Probably someone is pushing the tide behind the screen because I defend some extreme human rights violation in the state. It is not a fair treatment and unacceptable campaign rolling out without humanity. So, in this regard, I request those CSO leaders to kindly refrain from such unprofitable things.Let’s forget about the past mistakes and think together for the future unitedly for upholding brotherhood, dignity and peaceful business”.