Langmei VA
IMPHAL, May 24: The Langmei (Ritiang/Chiang) VA has decided to take step against any threat to DIET, Tamei Headquarters. A statement issued by the chairman of Langmei VA, P Lungpadbow also appealed the DIET, Tamei and the students to discharge their duty .....
Govt signs MoU with UPPK
IMPHAL, May 24: A home-coming ceremony of UPPK leaders and cadres was held today at 1st MR banquet hall during which a tripartite Me-morandum of Understanding was signed between the outfit, Government of Manipur and Government of India. Chief Minister .....
Muivah states stand to titular king
IMPHAL, May 24: “Nagas and Meiteis should decide for their own future and our future will be the outcome of this de-cision”, stated NSCN-IM Ato Kilonser Thuingaleng Muivah during a meeting with titular king Leishemba Sanajaoba at Hebron, Dimapur. .....
N/East Mt Everest Expedition ends
IMPHAL, May 24: With the successful summit to Mt Eve-rest by Manish Deka from Assam today at 5.45am, the record setting 1st NE India Mt Everest Expedition came to an end. The total number of successful Everesters from the expedition team stands at 11......
Ukhrul protest
UKHRUL, May 24: More than 1500 Anganwadi Workers and Helpers staged sit in protest at Ukhrul Mini Secretariat Complex today demand- ing payment of their pending twelve months honorarium. Later in the afternoon, a memorandum addressed to the Minister o.....
Flaws in Govt's Agri policy
IMPHAL, May 24: At a time when the Government of India is putting in serious effort to develop agriculture and allied sectors by pumping in additional fund, the State Government is currently pain-ting a contrasting picture. According to an official sou.....
KNF officer shot dead
IMPHAL, May 24: Comman-ding officer of KNF’s Ebenezer Camp HS Shanty Kipgen was shot dead by some unidentified persons at around 10 pm of May 23. Some 7/8 unidentified persons came to the house one Bimola located just beside Fo-rest Beat Office near.....
Fund boost to Mary's goal
NEW DELHI, May 24: The sports ministry has given in-principle approval for a grant of Rs 309.56 lakh to Olympic medallist Mary Kom's Regional Boxing Foundation at Imphal for construction of a gymnasium hall and procurement of equipments. The grant, to .....
Parents' body
IMPHAL, May 24: Close on the heels of 15 school children collapsing inside an overcrowded school van yesterday, All Manipur Guardian Stuents Organisation (AMSGO) has demanded that strict instruction be given by Education Minister to van drivers not to cra.....
Cultural prog
IMPHAL, May 24: A one day cultural and musical exchange programme was held today at Senapati Public Ground under the aegis of Senapati District Students’ Association (SDSA) and Kuki Students’ Organisa-tion, Sadar Hills (KSO-SH). The programme held .....
Centre naive on NH protection force plan
IMPHAL, May 24: Despite continuous demand from va-rious sections for deployment of highway protection force (HPF) to ensure safe passage of vehicle operators and pas-sengers along the national highways connecting Manipur to other parts of the country, the.....
Screening for Cervical Cancer
By Dr BabinaThangjam When Ashangbi Devi (name changed) started having regular bouts of back pain and watery vaginal discharge, she instinctively knew something was not right.She started experiencing all thesemany years after her menopause and at first, s.....
“Go for gospel music”
By Rev L Simon Raomai Rock music is in the air virtually everywhere today. It is a captivate music culture which originated from western world. It is popularized from packed sports arena to advertisements that peddle everything from movie sound tracks an.....
Traditional healing methods with special reference to Manipur
By Dr K Paochunbou (Contd from previous issue) But Scientists know that the bitter taste is caused by a toxin- “tetracyclic trieterpenoid cucurbitacin compound” and such toxin can cause vomiting of blood, severe diarrhoea, severe ulcers, fatal, st.....
School vans : Packed like sardines The wake up call
It did not end in a disaster. A providential escape ? Whatever, the warning cannot and should not be ignored. Packed like sardines in a can. This is perhaps the closest description of school vans all over Imphal and the other towns of Manipur, like Churac.....
KKSDDA warns
IMPHAL, May 24: Highlighting the scores of inconveniences faced by the people of Kasom Khullen Subdivision due to prolonged absence of responsible SDO/BDO and delayed in inauguration of the new office building, the Kasom Khullen Subdivision Development As.....
Successful candidates congratulated
IMPHAL, May 24: The Thoubal Police has congratulated Kshetrimayum Thoithoinganba Meitei s/o Ksh Rajen Singh and Sougrakpam (N) Ksh (O) Nonibala Devi of Thoubal Nongangkhong who secured the 8th position in the HSLC Exam 2013 conducted by the BSEM. A sta.....
KSO reprimands Cdl NRHM
IMPHAL, May 24: Expressing discontentment over the conduct of perfunctory three-day health mela at Joupi village in Khengjoy subdivision from May 17-19 by the NRHM Chandel, the Kuki Students' Organisation played down the health mela saying it was done onl.....
Two UG cadres nabbed
IMPHAL, May 24: A PREPAK cadre reportedly with several criminal records was arrested by a combined team of Thoubal police commandos and 6 Dogra today around 4.10 pm while conducting a search operation at Pallel Bazar. Identifying the arrested PREPAK ca.....
AITSA for change of leadership in Govt
IMPHAL, May 24: The All India Tribal Students’ Association Delhi (AITSA) and the Mongoloid Peoples Forum (MPF), Delhi, expressing apprehension on the virtual lack of sensitivity and the decaying secular character of the State Government, urged the Con.....
Headlines
By : Agencies
Compensation Of Rs 10.51 Cr In 191 Cases Awarded In Manipur : NHRC NHRC report to SC lists 191 fake encounters
By Dhananjay Mahapatra
NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court, which relentlessly strove to bring to book perpetrators of the fake encounter killings of Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram Prajapati in Gujarat, has an explosive situation on its hands as the National Human Rights Commission informed it that 191 fake encounter killings took place in the country in the last five years.
Appalled by the attitude of the Manipur government in responding to over 1,500 alleged fake encounter killings in the militancy affected state in the last three decades, a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana P Desai had asked during the last hearing, “Is there a war going on within? Is this the attitude and orientation of a state to say that if they are killing my men, we will kill them?”
In response to Manipur’s alleged unaddressed extra-judicial killings, the NHRC in an affidavit said in the last five years, from 2007 to 2012, it had received 1,671 complaints/information regarding fake encounters.
“The commission in the last five years has awarded monetary compensation to the tune of Rs 10.51 crore in 191 cases,” it said in an affidavit. The commission awards compensation in the range of Rs 5-10 lakh to the kin of victims if it comes to the conclusion after inquiry that it was a fake encounter.
The bench headed by Justice Alam had in the past minutely scrutinized Gujarat government’s attempts to put a veil on facts in the Sohrabuddin and Tulsiram Prajapati encounter killings and had ordered CBI probe into them, resulting in filing of charge-sheet against former minister Amit Shah, in addition to former senior police officials.
The NHRC mirrored the experience of the apex court in dealing with the two Gujarat fake encounters. “The only handicap is that in all the cases, respective state governments invariably take more than reasonable time to submit magisterial enquiry report, post-mortem report, inquest report and the ballistic expert report,” it said.
“Due to this delay on the part of the state governments in complying with mandatory requirements, the delay occurs in all the matters, as for want of these reports even the commission cannot draw any conclusion and cannot take any view in the matter as to whether the death took place in a genuine encounter or it was a fake encounter,” the human rights body said in its affidavit.
NGOs ‘Extra-Judicial Execution Victims Families Association of Manipur’ through Neena N and ‘Human Rights Alert’ through Babloo Loitongbam had requested the court to set up a Special Investigation Team to inquire into the extra-judicial killings in the state.
Another petition by Suresh Singh through advocate S Biswajeet Meitei alleged that continuance of AFSPA had led to a spurt in extra-judicial killings and sought its withdrawal from Manipur.
The NHRC gave its response to the 71 cases of alleged fake encounter complaints it had dealt with relating to Manipur of which only three have been closed. In one case - killing of Thangjam Manorama Chanu on July 12, 2004 - the commission had recently recommended payment of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of the victim but the defence ministry is yet to comply with it.
Though the commission’s guidelines require states to complete mandatory inquiry reports within three months, many cases of alleged extra-judicial killings reported from Manipur have been pending with the NHRC since 2007 as the state has not provided the key investigation reports.
Of the 68 pending cases, five incidents dated back to 2007, 17 to 2008 and 19 to 2009, the NHRC said.
To enable it to deal with such cases expeditiously, NHRC said, “It would be appropriate if the Supreme Court directs all the states to strictly comply with the guidelines/recommendation issued by the commission without fail, both in letter and spirit.” (Courtesy: The Times of India)
