Justice stalled sans prosecution sanction
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 14 2019:
The Extrajudicial Execution Victims Families Association Manipur (EEVFAM) and the Human Rights Alert (HRA) Manipur have decried that delivery of justice to numerous cases of extrajudicial executions have been delayed on account of not granting prosecution sanction by the State Government.
Speaking to media persons at Kwakeithel this evening, HRA executive director Babloo Loitongbam said that thousands of civilians have been executed extrajudicially in Manipur under the shadow of AFSPA 1958.After the victim families filed a petition at the Supreme Court with a list of 1528 cases of extrajudicial killings in 2012, the CBI has been enquiring into 42 cases as a first step, out of the total 1528 cases.
Till date, the CBI has completed investigation into 13 cases and submitted their final reports to Courts.
However, criminal trials against charge-sheeted security personnel have been blocked as the State Government has not been granting prosecution sanction, Babloo decried.
He reminded that the ruling BJP in its 2017 pre-poll Vision Document promised that if they come to power they would investigate the entire fake encounter cases and punish all the guilty personnel within one month.
BJP gave this assurance not only orally but also in black and white.
Two years have passed since the BJP-led coalition Government was formed, but the Government has been maintaining a stoic silence even on the issue of granting sanction to initiate prosecution, leave aside punishing the guilty personnel, he rued.
On account of not granting prosecution sanction, some of the charge-sheets have been returned to the CBI, he said.
Babloo then asked whether the long and arduous struggle of the people to punish the security personnel responsible for the extrajudicial executions will end in a whimper due to the incumbent Government's abdication of its own written commitment.