EEVFAM in UN
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, May 31 2013 :
The Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) has presented a lucid report of the extrajudicial executions in India and South Asia at the 23rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Neena Ningombam, representing EEVFAM and Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) Hong Kong, stated that thousands of women have been made widows after their husbands were executed in extra-judicial manner.
"Today I stand along with thousands of widows whose loved ones were extra-judicially executed particularly in the North East and Kashmir of India where the Armed Special Powers Act 1958 is in operation", Neena said.
After Neena's husband was killed by state agencies, the Government branded him a terrorist and denied her all state welfare schemes for widows.
Refusing to admit this baseless charge, Neena fought an uphill legal battle for four years in order to clear her husband's name from the terrorist tag given by the State.
Following a petition filed at the Supreme Court of India, requesting the Court to probe into the 1528 cases of extrajudicial executions documented from Manipur, the Court appointed a high power commission and the commission revealed the systematic failure of the Government to protect the right to life.
Decrying that the commission's report was not made available to the petitioners and the public, Neena questioned as to why the report did not touch upon the fact the investigation of criminal cases in India is patently defective, primarily due to inability of the crime investigation agencies to undertake credible and prompt investigations.
She went to question if the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions who visited India recently was informed by the Government that proper conduct of autopsies in cases of unlawful killings is impossible due to lack of facilities in most Government hospitals in the country.
She asked, "What follow up actions does the Rapporteur envisage with the Government of India to ensure that his report to the UN Human Rights Council is positively acted upon, failing which many widows who are in pursuit of justice would never receive it?" .