Manipur High Court Cancels ‘Default Bail’ Granted To Man Charged Under UAPA In “Republic Of Kukiland” Case

A special court’s order granting ‘default bail’ to an accused charged under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA has been set aside by the Manipur High Court. The high court on Thursday rejected the accused’s claim that the chargesheet against him was “incomplete”.

‘Default bail’ refers to the relief available to an accused if officials do not complete investigation within a specified period.

A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Manipur’s capital Imphal had granted ‘default bail’ to the accused Mark Thangmang Haokip, 39, on the grounds that the investigators did not take the prosecution’s sanction while filing the chargesheet, thus making it “incomplete.”

Mark Thangmang Haokip was arrested on May 30, 2022 on charges of waging war against India and working against the nation to create an “independent Government of the People’s Democratic Republic of Kukiland”, according to the First Information Report (FIR) and the chargesheet. He conspired with others to this end and had also started collecting funds, the chargesheet stated.

Mark Thangmang Haokip called himself “president” of the “People’s Democratic Republic of Kukiland” in a statement on October 23, 2019 which appealed to “neighbouring countries” to “respect the sovereign rights of the Kukis.”

While the website ‘kukigovt.com’ and ‘KukiGovt” social media handles are no longer active, in its communication to the public it described itself as “a human rights based non-violent political government of the Kuki nation.”

High Court Cites Supreme Court Judgment

The Manipur High Court, however, said chargesheet filed without the prosecution’s sanction is not necessarily an “incomplete” chargesheet, citing an order of the Supreme Court on May 1, 2023 in a NIA case against Punjab resident Judgebir Singh who faced a terror-related case.

The high court bench of Chief Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice A Guneshwar Sharma said the Imphal special court (NIA) judge “erred grossly” in granting ‘default bail’ to the accused, who faced charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA.

“It is now a settled proposition of law that chargesheet filed without prosecution sanction order cannot be treated as an incomplete chargesheet… We are of the view that the learned special judge (NIA), Imphal West, erred grossly in holding that the subject chargesheet filed without prosecution sanction order from the competent authority is an incomplete chargesheet and the accused is entitled to be released on bail,” the Manipur High Court said.

The high court said the chargesheet was submitted on November 25, 2022, the ‘default bail’ application was filed on March 18, 2023, and the default bail was granted on March 28, 2023. The default bail is not maintainable as it was filed much after the chargesheet was submitted on December 25, 2022, the high court said.

Advocate General Lenin Hijam, appearing for the state government, told the high court that the provisions of Section 43D of the UAPA – which modify the applicability of some provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) when it comes to remand period and granting bail – have to be considered in the current case.

“It is reiterated the impugned order has utterly failed to consider the mandate of the provision of Section 43D UAPA while granting bail to the accused/respondent (both regular and default),” Mr Hijam told the court, referring to the special court (NIA) order that gave relief to the accused.

Senior lawyer Colin Gonsalves appeared for the accused Mark Thangmang Haokip, and wife Lhaineikim Lhouvum, 31.