The triple murder : Where is the Court?

By Thanreingam Muivah *

The story of those three persons mercilessly bludgeoned to death after being abducted, three others rescued from the jungle after being held captive and three alleged killers being pulled up for committing the crime, has been haunting the mind of people in this tiny State of Manipur for these couple of weeks. To put it randomly, the story itself seems to have been fragmented with each episode calling the intervention of different entities.

The corpses of Dr Kishan and his two subordinate staff have finally been claimed and cremated following an understanding reached between the State Government and the JAC formed against the crime but this does not mean that the JAC concerned has come to the closing stage of pushing its demands through.

On the other hand we have also been made to believe that the three captives-- kidnapped along with the three killed -- who were later rescued from the jungle, about 23 kms away from Ukhrul headquarters are in the haven of the Assam Rifles.

What then eventually followed is the alleged arrest of the three captors who belong to cadres of NSCN (IM) and who are currently put under the custody of the same outfit prompting the Chief Minister of Manipur to pressurise New Delhi so that the case may be handed over to the latter.

If we are now to go by the manner in which the same case being taken over by different 'authorities', it is hard to rule out any possible lapses that would occur during trials made against the culprits towards delivering justice. In view of the crime being barbaric in nature and apparently designed to sow seeds of communal hatred among the people and above all being committed by the cadres of NSCN (IM), the case of this triple murder stands out to be an acid test for both the outfit and the State Government. For we are more than convinced that it would be a tough job to arrive at any sort of accommodation between the two parties allowing Ibobi-led Govt to lay its hand on the case. Besides more than a single incident that have testified this in the past, the words of Wung Tangkhul Region saying, "The case has been taken over by the Central authority in Camp Hebron" is more than clear. Thus it would not be an over estimate to assert that such case of triple murder that could have provoked a public outcry in the most intense form, deserves a serious view.

Meanwhile, among others, the JAC's demand to initiate a criminal proceeding against the suspended DC of Ukhrul should not be considered softly. The fact that the then DC of Ukhrul stayed on leave from February 14, on which eve Dr Kishan and the other five were abducted from near the gate of DC office in the heart of the district headquarters is something hard to swallow. But as the situation stands out to be at this hazy moment, we may inquire the reason behind the 'pin drop silence' maintained by the DC from day 1 instead of paving certain ways towards saving the lives of the victims kidnapped right under his nose as the head of the district administration. Was the DC being threatened by the abductors of serious consequences or was he really involved in the nexus? These are questions among others that should not be allowed to go unanswered keeping in mind the intensity of cruelty exercised in committing the crime.

In this moment of despair and distress, we all need to join hands with one spirit of doing away with all the acts of killings cutting across the communal line. For the trouble that our Chief Minister has taken with sleepness night we need to appreciate but at the same time let us also remember that we could not be easily convinced by the Indian judicial system having crores of cases pending to cope with. And if at all we believe in the principle that "Justice delayed is justice denied," we need to imagine the amount of patience that would be required till the last judgement under the Indian judicial system when there is no guarantee that such inhuman act would not occur from any quarter in the process.

While all individuals involved in the gruesome crime be punished depending upon the intensity of the crime one commits, we the public are not that ignorant to consider the feasibility of a story that narrates, "Three assailants abduct six men, while three of the captives were kept apart, the other three were killed by the three abductors and that too with the use of hoe and stone and not bullet."

No doubt, the NSCN (IM) would be in an embarrassing moment at this crucial juncture, but what should not be buried in the process of the whole investigation till the final judgement is the people's cry for restoring communal harmony in the State.