Manipur students' leader jailed for sedition gets bail

Manipur high court on Tuesday granted bail to students' leader, Veewon Thokchom, who was arrested on Friday on sedition charge.

The court also did not entertain Manipur police's petition seeking Thokchom's custody for interrogation.

Thokchom was arrested from his rented house in New Delhi, following an FIR by the state police, which accused him of spreading "provocative messages to incite" people during the protest against the NDA's Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019. He had posted his comment regarding the bill in his Facebook account, which according to police, was provocative.

The bill that sought to grant citizenship to non-Muslim "persecuted" migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8. The Centre, however, did not take it in the Rajya Sabha on February 12 to avoid impending defeat in the vote and following strong protests in the Northeast.

Indigenous people in the Northeast are opposed to the bill fearing that it would reduce them into minorities by giving citizenship to large "illegal migrants." The strong protests had worried the BJP-led Manipur government.

Veewon had filed a bail application in the high court after he was produced in a court in Imphal on Monday.