Tales of Manorama and Sharmila :: AFSPA : The common thread
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 20, 2014 -

Not yet the wheel of justice turning fully, but it can go a long way in soothing frayed nerves.

The very point that the Supreme Court of India has deemed it fit to direct the Centre to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation for the death of Th Manorama is more than indicative that the Court has found the story of the Assam Rifles half baked.

The version of the Assam Rifles that the young woman was shot dead when she tried to flee seemed like a pathetic attempt to dish out an astounding tale.

Not the first time it was that such a story was churned out and it was not the last either.

Story telling or cooking up yarns appear to have become a deft policy of the security forces here.

What happened here after the brutalised and lifeless body of Th Manorama was found is there for all to see.

Media persons who have taken up the job of disseminating information to the public must still remember those days when the State as a whole erupted in protest and angst.

The lifeless body of Th Manorama injected fresh energy in the demand of the people to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the nude protest staged by elderly womenfolk in front of Kangla back then was a cry not only against the brutal killing of the woman but also against the immunity granted by the Army Act to the men in uniform.

In penalising the Centre this point should not be lost on anyone. Rs 10 lakh cannot be the price of a human being but the judgement is significant in many ways.

It is a sharp reminder to the Centre and the security personnel that they cannot always get away with some fantastic tales of encounter.

What is significant to note is the point that Th Manorama was not the first to become a victim of the Army Act and she was not the last either.

It was not for nothing that the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh personally flew down to Imphal to get a first hand account of the situation here.

Again it was not for nothing that the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee was constituted to look into the feasibility of the demand that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act be withdrawn or repealed from Manipur.

That the recommendation of the Committee has been put in cold storage is there for all to see and it should be more than clear that the then Prime Minister himself talked about replacing the Army Act with a more humane Act.

Enough testimony that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act gives the security personnel sweeping power to kill even on mere suspicion.

If Manorama was the flash point then it is important to remember that long before she was killed Irom Sharmila had launched an indefinite fast to demand the repeal of the Army Act.

Sharmila is still on fast and remarkable to note that she has not eaten a morsel of food for well over 14 years.

The two stories complement each other well and it is important to note that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act is central to both stories.

Sharmila launched her fast after the Malom massacre of November 2, 2000 and Th Manorama was brutalised and killed by security personnel under the immunity granted by the said Act.

Deaths telling two significant stories.