Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey on Tuesday told citizens not to damage religious sites and not to encroach on the properties of those displaced due to the ethnic conflict in the state.

Quoting the governor’s directives, the state’s home department warned that those violating them will be booked under relevant legal provisions and held for the contempt of the Supreme Court.

Last month, a three-member committee of former judges constituted by the Supreme Court said that religious sites should be protected from encroachment as well as from damage or destruction. The panel also called on the Manipur government to “ensure the protection of the properties of the displaced persons as well as the properties which have been destroyed/burnt in the violence and prevent their encroachment”.

On September 25, the Supreme Court gave the Centre and the Manipur government one week to respond to the directions. “The state of Manipur shall file an updated status report and apprise the Committee in advance of the work which has taken place,” the court also ordered.

Over 200 people have been killed since the ethnic conflict broke out between the Kuki and Meitei communities in Manipur in early May. Nearly 60,000 persons have been forced to flee their homes.

Last month, the state police had said that 386 religious places had been vandalised during the violence, according to The Indian Express. Of these, while 254 were churches, 132 were temples.