A Glimmer of Hope
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: October 03, 2012 -
(File) Families of the victims during a meeting with UN Special Rapporteur Prof Christof Heyns at Guwahati
The Supreme Court notices to the Centre and the State Government on a plea for an independent probe into cases of alleged extra-judicial executions in Manipur must have surely given a ray of hope to thousands of despondent families not in the state but also in other parts of the country, who have been crying for justice over the death of their dear and near ones in such killings without the sanction of any judicial proceeding or legal process.
Along with admitting the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families, Manipur (EEVFAM), a bench of the apex court comprising Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash on Monday also asked the National Human Rights Commission to file its reply to the plea by November 4, when the next hearing of the case would be taken up.
Moreover, the apex court has appointed Menaka Guruswamy, a Supreme Court lawyer, as the amicus curiae into the matter.
Although Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, who appeared on behalf of the petitioner, told the court that more than 1,528 people have been killed by security forces since 1978 in Manipur, only 63 cases have been placed along with detailed documentation, on whose basis the apex court has issued the present notice not only to the Centre and the State Government but also to the National Human Rights Commission.
The apex court notice on the 63 cases is likely to set a precedent for the families of the remaining victims to knock at the door of law court for justice.
As a matter of fact, this is not the first time that cases of alleged extrajudicial killings have echoed within the vaulted room of the apex court in India in recent time.
Earlier on July 4 this year, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a similar plea for probe into the alleged extra-judicial killings by BSF personnel in border area of West Bengal.
In that case, the petitioner Bangla Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha, a Kolkata-based NGO, alleged that there are over 200 cases where BSF personnel indulged in extra-judicial killings but none of them has been probed by the state police.
So, the Manipur case which came close on the heels of West Bengal case must have been able to restore the faith of the people in the judiciary system at least to some extent.
However, it would be still early to jump to any conclusion considering that fact that long delays and uncertainty have been the norms rather than exception in Indian judiciary system.
Such delays not only impede the process of bringing to justice those who are guilty but also contribute to the climate of immunity that allows extrajudicial killings to continue.
So, while proper investigation is a critical factor in prevention of extrajudicial killings, because without proper investigation, there is little hope of prosecuting the perpetrators, there is also the urgent need to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 under which sanction of the Central or State Government is required to arrest or institute criminal prosecutions against public servants, including police officers and members of the civil or armed forces.
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