Give statement without fear: EEVFAM, HRA
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 22 2018:
Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert, have appealed to the people who witnessed the alleged fake encounter cases of the State to provide their statement to the CBI without any fear when the CBI/SIT team come for spot enquiry.
Speaking to media persons at the office of Human Rights Alert at Kwakeithel Thiyam Leikai, EEVFAM president Renu Takhellambam said that after marly years of killing innocent people in alleged fake encounter cases in the State, the time has finally come for delivering justice to the families of the victims and for the giving appropriate punishments to the security personnel involved in such cases.
She said that on January 16, the Supreme Court of India directed CBI/ SIT to submit charge sheets or final reports of 12 cases (for which CBI has already filed FIRs) in connection with the alleged fake encounter cases as well as to register 30 more FIRs by the end of January regarding similar cases.
As per the directive of the Supreme Court, a team of CBI/SIT began conducting spot enquiry by visiting the incident sites and the surrounding localities-as well as meeting the family members of the victims.
Renu Takhellambam appealed to the family members as well as the locals who witnessed the incidents of alleged fake encounters or witnessed people being killed after getting arrested by security personnel, to give their honest statement/ account of the incident without any hesitation.
After a decade long struggle, the time has come for delivering justice to those who were killed by security forces in alleged fake encounters, she added.
On the other hand, Babloo Loitongbam, director of Human Rights Alert, said that during the Supreme Court hearing of the alleged fake encounter cases in Manipur, on January 16, Sharad Agarwal, DIG Special Crime Branch III (in-charge of the SIT) furnished a status report in a sealed cover before the Division Bench, comprising of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Uday Ramesh.
He said that during the hearing the DIG submitted that 12 FIRs have been registered in connection with the alleged fake encounter cases while six cases are yet to be received by the agency.
As a result, the Supreme Court made it absolutely clear that all FIRs regarding the alleged fake encounter cases must be registered on or before January 31.The Court also directed the DIG to provide the list of witnesses to be examined and to complete investigation into the 12 cases by February 28.The Court further directed the DIG to ensure that all subsequent status reports filed by him, are approved by the CBI Director, who will also monitor the progress of the investigation, Babloo added.
Stating that the Supreme Court of India has directed the agency to investigate a total of 42 alleged fake encounter cases in Manipur (in which 98 people were killed), Babloo appealed to the people as well as the family members to offer full cooperation to the CBI/SIT without any hesitation.