Ghost of 2009 coming back to haunt Court date on November 25
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The Court has decided. There is no reason to accept the closure report submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the alleged extra-judicial killing of two persons back in 2009 and has directed 10 Manipur police personnel, a then Major of and a Rifleman of the Assam Rifles to appear before it on November 25. Clear that the Santosh Hegde Committee has come out with a clear cut case, a case which cannot be washed away with just the submission of a closure report, a report which indicates that there is lack of enough material to proceed with the probe. How things proceed remains to be seen, but the ruling of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal West is in line with the allegations that have been raised by the Extra Judicial Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) along with the Human Rights Alert in the Supreme Court more than 10 years back. 2009 and it was at that point of time when killings were rampant and as professionals engaged with the job of disseminating information to the people daily, it was not uncommon to hear of people being killed in a late evening encounter. Back then it was also not uncommon for the reporters who were on the crime beat, more popularly known as Crime Reporters, to have their hands full and having to rush to the spot late in the evening to report on a killing or two-Killings which were passed off as ‘killed in encounter’. This was the round that each Crime Reporter was expected to go on an almost daily basis. And typically the day for such reporters would start with a visit to the morgue and the hospital in the morning to get hold of any new development on the ‘killing/encounter front.’ As a newspaper which has seen it all, certain lines had become daily inputs in the statements issued by the police and the security personnel, lines which usually ran like, ‘after the retaliatory firing the bodies were found,’ ‘further search of the area led to the recovery of a body and spent cartridges’, ‘the police/security personnel were suddenly fired upon’ etc. Those were the days when young boys were strictly advised by the parents and elders of the family not to move out in the evening with the line, ‘Lots of policemen out there.’ This was the reality under which many of today’s generations grew up but things seemed to improve when EEVFAM and HRA moved the Supreme Court against the alleged extra-judicial killings of 1528 people and the Justice Hegde Commission was constituted to first go into some cases that were randomly picked up. This was sometime in 2013 and those who have followed the extra-judicial killing cases will certainly remember the thundering line, ‘How can a 15 year old boy be a terrorist ?’ raised by the Hegde Committee. It is now more than 10 years since the alleged extra-judicial cases were taken up for hearing and the victims continue to wait for justice as the Centre has reportedly not given the prosecution sanction. A sanction is needed to penalise security personnel acting under the provisions of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and this should say so many things.
In short the story of Manipur in the last many decades. Allegations of fake encounters, mass killings, enforced disappearance fill up the story of Manipur and it is this reality which gave birth to the marathon hunger striker Irom Sharmila who went on a fast for 16 years demanding the revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. A marathon hunger strike launched after troops of Assam Rifles gunned down 10 civilians at Malom in 2000 and it was under the immunity and impunity granted by the Army Act that the civilians were mowed down. Much before Sharmila etched history with her 16 years fast, Manipur was not unfamiliar with mass killings, having already witnessed the Heirangoithong massacre, the RIMS killings etc and these are just some examples from the valley area, the hills having already been bled during Operation Bluebird at Oinam in Senapati district in 1987. The excesses and the sense of immunity and impunity granted by AFSPA can also be seen in the numerous enforced disappearance cases, cases of Laishram Bijoykumar, Sanamacha, just to cite two examples that come to mind. It was against this background that the Supreme Court was moved and the alleged fake encounter cases were taken up and the significance of the ruling of the CJM Court to 10 Manipur police personnel, one then Major and a Rifleman of the Assam Rifles in the killings of two men back in 2009 should be seen and noted.
In short the story of Manipur in the last many decades. Allegations of fake encounters, mass killings, enforced disappearance fill up the story of Manipur and it is this reality which gave birth to the marathon hunger striker Irom Sharmila who went on a fast for 16 years demanding the revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act. A marathon hunger strike launched after troops of Assam Rifles gunned down 10 civilians at Malom in 2000 and it was under the immunity and impunity granted by the Army Act that the civilians were mowed down. Much before Sharmila etched history with her 16 years fast, Manipur was not unfamiliar with mass killings, having already witnessed the Heirangoithong massacre, the RIMS killings etc and these are just some examples from the valley area, the hills having already been bled during Operation Bluebird at Oinam in Senapati district in 1987. The excesses and the sense of immunity and impunity granted by AFSPA can also be seen in the numerous enforced disappearance cases, cases of Laishram Bijoykumar, Sanamacha, just to cite two examples that come to mind. It was against this background that the Supreme Court was moved and the alleged fake encounter cases were taken up and the significance of the ruling of the CJM Court to 10 Manipur police personnel, one then Major and a Rifleman of the Assam Rifles in the killings of two men back in 2009 should be seen and noted.