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Manipur `fake encounters` probe by Indian SC | World | bdnews24.com
Kolkata, Jan 5 (bdnews24.com/agencies) The Indian Supreme Court has set up a three-member commission to investigate allegations of fake encounters by security forces in Manipur.
It has named former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde and former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh as members of the commission and said a senior police officer will be the third member, but it is yet to name the person.
K Subramaniam, a former Manipur cadre officer of Indian Police Service and a celebrated scholar on police reforms, may be picked as the third member of the commission, according to informed sources.
A petition in the Supreme Court has alleged that more than 1,500 fake encounters have taken place in Manipur in the past three decades since ethnic insurgency erupted in the state and led to a heavy-handed security response.
The petition demanded a probe by a special investigation team, but the Indian government opposed it and pitched for a probe by its Central Bureau of Investigation.
The Supreme Court has said it will first investigate only five cases of alleged fake encounter.
It has said that the Manipur government does not even send routine magisterial reports of the encounters to the National Human Rights Commission. "So there's an urgent need for an independent probe by people of eminence."
But the Supreme Court refused to take up the issue of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, saying it was a "complex issue better not taken up now".
The petitioner in its plea contended that there has been no criminal investigations and prosecutions of the guilty in such encounter cases and even departmental inquiries were not conducted against accused policemen or security personnel.
"The magisterial inquiries that took place sometimes were conducted by the executive magistrates under the cover of secrecy and most often, without intimation to the eyewitnesses and the members of the families. They were conducted as an eyewash," the petition said.
The bench objected to the contentions of the Manipur government which tried to justify the encounter killings saying that the people killed were involved in anti-national activities.
"In this country, as long as we are here and the Rule of Law is here, we cannot allow gun shots for accused," the bench said, taking exception to the government's contention for terming the families of the victims of encounter killings as anti-national.
"I am taking strong exception to your contention. How can you term the petitioners anti-national without any evidence? Nationalism is not a monopoly of the state. You do not have the authority to term them ant-national just because you are a state. These are the allegations which make people anti-national," the bench said.
"Do not raise finger at them? Why do they have to prove their credentials for nationalism? We grieve equally for the death of security personnel and common man," the bench said.
Observing on terrorist activities, the bench remarked, "In this country, it is misfortune to see that a Prime Minister and an ex-Prime Minister got killed but that does not give us the right to lynch the accused."
"We hope the Commission headed by Santosh Hedge will bring justice," said Manipur's human rights activist Babloo Loitongbam.
Kolkata, Jan 5 (bdnews24.com/agencies) The Indian Supreme Court has set up a three-member commission to investigate allegations of fake encounters by security forces in Manipur.
It has named former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde and former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh as members of the commission and said a senior police officer will be the third member, but it is yet to name the person.
K Subramaniam, a former Manipur cadre officer of Indian Police Service and a celebrated scholar on police reforms, may be picked as the third member of the commission, according to informed sources.
A petition in the Supreme Court has alleged that more than 1,500 fake encounters have taken place in Manipur in the past three decades since ethnic insurgency erupted in the state and led to a heavy-handed security response.
The petition demanded a probe by a special investigation team, but the Indian government opposed it and pitched for a probe by its Central Bureau of Investigation.
The Supreme Court has said it will first investigate only five cases of alleged fake encounter.
It has said that the Manipur government does not even send routine magisterial reports of the encounters to the National Human Rights Commission. "So there's an urgent need for an independent probe by people of eminence."
But the Supreme Court refused to take up the issue of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, saying it was a "complex issue better not taken up now".
The petitioner in its plea contended that there has been no criminal investigations and prosecutions of the guilty in such encounter cases and even departmental inquiries were not conducted against accused policemen or security personnel.
"The magisterial inquiries that took place sometimes were conducted by the executive magistrates under the cover of secrecy and most often, without intimation to the eyewitnesses and the members of the families. They were conducted as an eyewash," the petition said.
The bench objected to the contentions of the Manipur government which tried to justify the encounter killings saying that the people killed were involved in anti-national activities.
"In this country, as long as we are here and the Rule of Law is here, we cannot allow gun shots for accused," the bench said, taking exception to the government's contention for terming the families of the victims of encounter killings as anti-national.
"I am taking strong exception to your contention. How can you term the petitioners anti-national without any evidence? Nationalism is not a monopoly of the state. You do not have the authority to term them ant-national just because you are a state. These are the allegations which make people anti-national," the bench said.
"Do not raise finger at them? Why do they have to prove their credentials for nationalism? We grieve equally for the death of security personnel and common man," the bench said.
Observing on terrorist activities, the bench remarked, "In this country, it is misfortune to see that a Prime Minister and an ex-Prime Minister got killed but that does not give us the right to lynch the accused."
"We hope the Commission headed by Santosh Hedge will bring justice," said Manipur's human rights activist Babloo Loitongbam.
