Govt must heed Panel's findings and end impunity for 'fake encounters' : Amnesty International
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 24 2013: Amnesty International India has urged both the State and Central authorities to heed the Supreme Court panel's recommendations to bolster the Manipur police and Criminal Investigation Department in six months time in order to conduct thorough, impartial and effective investigations into all future cases of alleged extrajudicial executions in Manipur.

A statement issued by Amnesty International India said that an independent panel set up by the Supreme Court to investigate six alleged extrajudicial executions in Manipur has found damning evidence of impunity and abuse of special powers by security forces, resulting in widespread human rights violations.

The panel found that all seven deaths in the six cases they investigated were extrajudicial executions, and not deaths resulting from "encounters" where security forces claimed they had fired in self-defence against members of armed groups.

The panel also said that the continued operation of the AFSPA in Manipur has made "a mockery of the law," and that security forces have been "transgressing the legal bounds for their counter-insurgency operations in the state of Manipur" .

Crucially, the panel pointed to the AFSPA as a key contributor to rights violations by security forces while quoting the report thus, "The continuous use of the AFSPA for decades in Manipur has evidently had little or no effect on the situation.

On the other hand, the six cases, which have been shown to be not real encounters, are egregious examples of the AFSPA's gross abuse." The panel echoed a statement made by the Jeevan Reddy Commission, another government committee formed to review the AFSPA in 2005, which said that the law had become "a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness" .

Welcoming the findings of the Supreme Court-appointed panel, Amnesty International India urged the authorities to go beyond its recommendations and repeal the AFSPA in Manipur and elsewhere.

The AFSPA has provided impunity for perpetrators of grave human rightsviolations for decades.

Its continued operation in any form will allow human rights violations to continue.

In Manipur, impunity is endemic and authorities take little to no action to investigate and prosecute allegations of rights violations by security forces.

A special investigation team comprising senior police officers from outside the state should be formed to conduct prompt and full investigations into all 1,528 cases of alleged extrajudicial executions brought before the Supreme Court by local groups, the statement said.

Where sufficient admissible evidence is found, suspects - including those with command responsibility – should be prosecuted in fair and speedy trials meeting international standards in a civilian court, regardless of the time that has lapsed since the crime occurred.

The families of the victims should receive adequate reparation, including compensation, it stated.

Authorities must apply procedures laid down by India's National Human Rights Commission in cases of deaths caused in the course of police, army or other security personnel action, and follow the UN Principles and Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, it said.

The Government of India must also act on the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and set up a credible commission of inquiry intoextrajudicial executions throughout India, the statement added.

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