The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Leichobam Erendro’s incarceration is a serious problem in which he has been deprived of his liberty for months.

The Supreme Court issued a notice on a petition for compensation for his unlawful imprisonment.

Erendro is a political activist from Manipur who was imprisoned under the strict National Security Act (NSA) over a Facebook post claiming that cow dung or urine will not treat Covid.

A bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah said, “It is a serious matter. Someone has lost their liberty since May!”

The bench gave the respondents two weeks time to file their response on the question of compensation.

According to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the detention order has been overturned, and Erendro was released on Monday in accordance with the highest court’s ruling.

Mehta requested the court to dismiss the case, noting that he had not sought to defend the detention order the day before.

However, lawyer Shadan Farasat, who represents Erendro’s father who submitted the petition for his son’s release, included the prayer in his reparation request.

Farasat argued before the judge that the detention order stated five instances against him, but no charge sheet was filed in any of them.

The bench told Mehta, “On that prayer, we will give you time to file reply.”

Following the hearing of the arguments, the bench issued a notice in the case.

“We will have to justify the order on merits, and this could have been avoided by a little pragmatic approach,” Mehta submitted.

That is the petitioner’s decision, according to the bench.

On Monday, the Supreme Court ordered Erendro’s early release before 5 p.m. the same day.

The bench stated that his extended incarceration would be a “violation of the right to life and personal liberty guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution.”

“We accordingly direct that the petitioner shall be released forthwith as and by way of an interim direction of this court, unless he is required to be in custody in any other case, subject to further orders, subject to his filing a personal release bond of amount Rs 1,000,” said the court in its order.

L. Raghumani Singh, Leichombam’s father, filed a petition before the Supreme Court demanding his son’s freedom.
According to the petition, the activist’s imprisonment is retaliation for his criticism of BJP officials for pushing cow dung and urine as treatments for Covid.

“Erendro, a Manipuri political activist, has been preventively detained solely to punish him for his criticism of BJP leaders for advocating cow dung and cow urine as cures for Covid,” said the petition.

The plea contended that it is a shocking instance of misuse of preventive detention law to stifle completely innocuous speech, which is fully constitutionally protected.

Leichombam was detained on May 13 for a Facebook post on BJP leaders’ complaints.