Mangboilal's killing: EEVFAM, Human Rights Alert seek fair trial
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 07 2021:
The Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert (HRA) have urged the Government to ensure that there is prompt, thorough, effective and impartial investigation and a fair trial is carried out in a civilian Court in connection with the killing of Mangboilal by an Assam Rifles officer, Major Alok Sathe at Kangpokpi district on June 4 night.
Sharing the pain and anguish of the family members of (late) Mangboilal Lhouvum (29) of Chalwa village, Kangpokpi district, EEVFAM andHRA in a statement it is despicable that such incidents have started re-occurring again after a gap of several years following the 2016 judgment of the Supreme Court in 2012 .
The present BJP Government of Manipur, which came to power riding on the wave of the people's struggle against the extrajudicial execution, should do everything within its capacity to halt extrajudicial execution becoming the horrifying trend once again, the release said.
EEVFAM and HRA see this unfortunate incident as a manifestation of the institutionalized impunity provided by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) .
Despite CBI/SIT investigation on extrajudicial executions clearly establishing the direct involvement of several police and armed forces, it is only the police personnel who are indicted and not even a single armed forces of the Centre, it said.
Even though extrajudicial execution, in no stretch of imagination, can be considered as being carried out in exercise of official duty, the armed forces are shielding themselves using the immunity provided by AFSPA.
The Central Government has also denied prosecution sanction in all the cases, it said.
Considering the vagueness of law in this regard the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal West referred a matter to the High Court of Manipur to clarify the legal position vide its order dated February 22, 2021 in Cril Misc (FR) case no 633 of 2020, it said.
EEVFAM and HRA hope that the High Court of Manipur would expeditiously pass an appropriate order to fill up this legal lacuna in the interest of justice.
If the legal system continues to allow murderers to go scot free many more Mangboilals will continue to fall victim even as thousands of families continue to endlessly wait for justice from a slow moving judiciary, the bodies added.
The killing of Mangboilal is a clear case of extra-judicial killing and the Government of Manipur and the Government of India should ensure that there is prompt, thorough, effective and impartial investigation and a fair trial is carried out in a civilian Court by respecting the verdict of the Supreme Court as well as the international human rights standards,
the release added.