Central Govt should uphold SC verdict: AI India
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 09 2016 :
The Central Government must
heed to a Supreme Court ruling
on the importance of holding
security forces accountable for
human rights violations, and
repeal the Armed Forces
(Special Powers) Acts which
grant soldiers virtual immunity
from prosecution in civilian
Courts, Amnesty International
India said today.
The Court is hearing a
public interest litigation filed
by Imphal-based NGO Hu-
man Rights Alert and a
victims' group, seeking its
intervention in the cases of
1528 alleged extrajudicial ex-
ecutions in Manipur from
1979 to 2012, AI India said
in a statement.
In its ruling on July 8, it
said that all the allegations
needed to be looked into, and
offences committed by secu-
rity forces could be prosecu-
ted in civilian Courts.
It asked
for more information about
the cases.
Proceedings will
resume in four weeks.
"The Court's ruling makes
it clear that security force per-
sonnel accused of human
rights violations must not be
allowed to get away with
impunity.
It offers a ray of
hope to the families of hun-
dreds of people who were
allegedly extrajudicially ex-
ecuted in Manipur over
decades," said Arijit Sen,
Project Manager at Amnesty
International India.
The Court stated: "If any
death was unjustified, there is
no blanket immunity available
to the perpetrator(s) of the
offence.
No one can act with
impunity particularly when
there is a loss of an innocent
life.
...from the point of view
of a citizen, living under the
shadow of a gun that can be
wielded with impunity, out-
right acceptance of the
proposition advanced [that
Army personnel have immu-
nity from civilian trials] is
equally unsettling and demor-
alizing, particularly in a
constitutional democracy like
ours." "We welcome the judgment.
It is a positive one.
We shall have to
wait on what the court decides on our demand for a special inves-
tigation team to investigate all the cases.
The real sting is yet to come
on the nature of investigations on the cases," said Babloo
Loitongbam, Director, Human Rights Alert.
In January 2013, the Court had appointed a three-member
commission to determine whether six cases identified by the
court were 'encounter' deaths � where security forces had
fired in self-defence against members of armed groups � or
extrajudicial executions.
The Commission found that all the
cases involved extrajudicial executions, and also said that the
Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) was widely
abused by security forces in Manipur.
Parts of Manipur, other North-eastern States and Jammu
and Kashmir remain officially declared "disturbed areas",
where the AFSPA is in force.
The Act provides soldiers with
wide-ranging powers, including the use of lethal force.
Pros-
ecution for alleged rights violations in civilian courts requires
permission from the central government, which is virtually
never given.
"The AFSPA violates constitutional rights to life and lib-
erty and shields soldiers from justice.
This judgment underlines
that no one should be above the law.
The government must
recognise the import of this ruling and repeal the AFSPA,"
said Arijit Sen.
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