New Delhi: Leichombam Erendro, a Manipur-based political activist arrested in May for sedition — for writing "cow dung and cow urine don't work" on Facebook — was released from jail on Monday evening.
He was released at 4.45 pm — 15 minutes before expiry of a Supreme Court deadline.
Speaking after his release, Erendro accused the government of trying to "silence everyone with NSA (the National Security Act)" and declared "but that is not going to work". "326 cases of sedition across India. Let me tell you something... the Supreme Court came out and said: 'Why are we using the sedition law, which was used by the British to arrest freedom fighters. Mahatma Gandhi himself was arrested under sedition law'," he said.
"I think the current government is trying to abuse the power of the Executive and go beyond the Constitution... and trying to silence everybody. But I don't think that's going to work. India is a very strong democracy," Erendro added.
On Monday morning, the Supreme Court overruled a government request to adjourn the hearing and said Erendro's "continued detention... amounts to violation of right to life and personal liberty".
"We are of the view that the continued detention of the petitioner would amount to violation of right to life and personal liberty under Article 21. We direct him to be released today (Monday) by 5 pm with a personal bond of Rs 1,000," a two-judge Bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said. The court's order came on a plea by Erendro's father.