Indian-Origin Professor in UK Charged with Inciting Ethnic Violence in Manipur

An Indian-origin man teaching at a UK university has been accused of inciting ethnic violence in Manipur through online messages and talk sessions on a social media platform, according to a police complaint filed in Imphal, the state capital. The complaint suggests that the accused, identified as Uday Reddy, a Computer Science professor at the University of Birmingham, may have links with Khalistani elements in Canada.

The first information report (FIR) filed by a local resident alleges that Reddy has been working online to create tension between communities on religious grounds in Manipur. “The accused person deliberately, with malicious intent, insulted the Meitei’s religious beliefs and promoted enmity between the Meiteis and other communities on religious grounds,” the complainant stated in the FIR filed with a police station in Imphal East district.

The police have also registered a case against Reddy, claiming he has been hosting audio discussions on social media, directing people in Manipur on how to create trouble against law enforcement personnel. On X (formerly Twitter), a notice on Reddy’s profile page indicates that the account has been “withheld in India in response to a legal demand.”

The complainant urged Indian authorities to contact Reddy’s workplace and inform them about his “criminal acts committed against India.” They also requested a lookout circular (LOC) to monitor Reddy’s entry and exit points in India. An LOC is used to prevent anyone with a criminal record or wanted in an investigation from leaving the country.

This incident is not the first time the account of a professor abroad has been withheld by X over a legal demand in India. In August 2023, the X account of Sweden-based Indian-origin professor Ashok Swain, a critic of the Indian government’s policies, was similarly withheld.

Since May 2023, when ethnic violence broke out between the valley-dominant Meitei community and nearly two dozen tribes known as Kuki in Manipur, social media has been a battleground for narratives. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, in December 2023, raised concerns over the overwhelming barrage of speech distorting the truth due to troll armies and organized disinformation campaigns on social media platforms.