Justice (retd) SP Rajkhowa who probed Tipaimukh mass rape case dead
Source: Lalremlien Neitham *
Guwahati, January 17 2013:
Justice (retd) SP Rajkhowa, who led the judicial inquiry commission on the alleged mass rape case of Hmar women in Tipaimukh sub-division of Manipur in 2006, breathed his last after suffering from cardiac arrest on Tuesday night in Guwahati, according to sources.
His funeral was held on Wednesday.
Rajkhowa (82) complained of chest pain on Tuesday after which his son took him to the International Hospital in Guwahati where he was declared dead.
The SP Rajkhowa Commission's report on the Tipaimukh rape case was submitted to the O.Ibobi Singh government on June 2, 2008 but details of the report remains a closely guarded secret till date and the report has never been tabled in the floor of the Assembly for discussion nor the culprits have been brought to book, the source added.
The rape incident had evoked sharp criticism from civil society and human rights organisations who accused the Chief Minister O.Ibobi Singh government of "trying to shield" the culprits.
The Ibobi Singh government constituted the judicial inquiry commission after tribal communities in Churachandpur district alleged that militants of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF) and Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP) molested more than 20 women at Parbung and Lungthulien villages of Tipaimukh sub-division in 2006 .
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