Rights bodies for impartial probe into Mangboilal case
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, June 07 2021: While sharing the pain and anguish of family members of (late) Mangboilal Louvum (29) of Lauvum Chalwa village in Kangpokpi district, who was allegedly extra-judicially executed by 44 Assam Rifles post commander major Alok Sathe and his team on the night of June 4, Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert (HRA) have demanded an impartial probe into the case.

In a joint release, EEVFAM president Renu Takhellambam and HRA executive director Babloo Loitongbam stated that the death of Mangboilal is a clear case of extrajudicial killing and the governments of Manipur and India must ensure that there is prompt, thorough, effective and impartial investigation and a fair trial is carried out in a civilian court by respecting the verdict of the Supreme Court as well as the international human rights standards.

It is despicable that such incidents have started re-occurring again after a gap of several years following the historic 2016 judgment of the Supreme Court of India in WP (Cril) No 129 of 2012, EEVFAM v/s Union of India.

The present BJP led government in Manipur, which came to power riding on the wave of the people's struggle against the extrajudicial execution, should do everything within its capacity to halt extrajudicial execution becoming the horrifying trend once again, the joint release said.

EEVFAM and HRA noted that they see this unfortunate incident as a manifestation of the institutionalised impunity provided by The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

Despite CBI/SlT investigation on extrajudicial executions that have clearly established the direct involvement of several police and central forces in the heinous crimes, it is only the police personnel who are indicted and not even a single member of the central armed forces has been charged.

Even though extrajudicial execution, in no stretch of imagination, can be considered as being carried out in exercise of official duty, the armed forces are shielding themselves using the immunity provided by AFSPA.

The central government has also denied prosecution sanction in all the cases.

Considering the vagueness of law in this regard the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal West has referred the matter to the High Court of Manipur to clarify the legal position vide its order dated February 22, 2021 in Cril Misc (FR) case No 633 of 2020, it stated.

EEVFAM and HRA hoped that the High Court of Manipur would expeditiously pass an appropriate order to fill up this legal lacuna in the interest of justice.

If the legal system continues to allow murderers to go scot free many more Mangboilals will continue to fall victim even as thousands of families continue to endlessly wait for justice from a slow moving judiciary.

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