HRA, EEVFAM hail Court's order : 06th jul22 ~ E-Pao! Headlines

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HRA, EEVFAM hail Court's order
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, July 05 2022: The Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert (HRA) have welcomed the order of the Session Judge Imphal West which upheld the status of EEVFAM as a victim.

A joint statement issued by EEVFAM and HRA said that EEVFAM is an association of victims' families whose father, husband, son or brother have been killed in alleged fake encounters at the hands of State as well as Central security forces.

As per the joint statement, the judgment was pronounced following a revision petition filed by the Union of India, Ministry of Defence challenging the order of CJM Imphal West seeking a reference for clarification and guidance for clarification and guidance on 10 seminal questions pertaining to the issue of prosecution sanction.

The questions are : 1) Whether the Ministry of Defence, Gol can deny the grant of prosecution sanction against the accused persons (who are defence personnel) despite the fact that the CBI found a strong prima facie material evidence for commission of serious offences punishable under Section 302/342/201 read with Section 34 IPC by the accused persons or not ? .

2) Whether, at this stage, the Ministry of Defence, Gol is empowered to project a factual situation contrary to the prima facie findings of the CBI (which is the investigating agency specially entrusted by the apex Court in this regard) or not ? .

3) Whether the detailed and reasoned order dated 2nd December, 2019 passed by the Ministry of Defence, Gol, asserting that the victim Pheiroijam Sanajit was killed by the accused persons in an ambush during the course of official duty in lawful exercise of the powers conferred by Law, is legally tenable or not ? .

4) Whether the benefit/protection of Section 6 of AFSPA can be extended in all given situations including blatant abuse or misuse of official position by defence personnel or not.

Will a defence personnel get the protection of Section 6 of AFSPA even in such a given situation, for instance, where he (defence personnel) keeps on firing/killing all passers-by without any reason while he (defence personnel) is on patrolling/during official duty or not ? .

5) Whether the act of killing the victim Pheiroijam Sanajit by the accused be considered as an act done during the course of official duty in lawful exercise of the powers conferred by law in the light of the prima facie findings of the CBI or not ? .

6) Whether the accused persons be given protection under Section 6 of AFSPA even in cases where re-investigation was done by the CBI on the specific instruction/direction of the Supreme Court of India ? .

7) Whether prosecution sanction is required, as per law, in case of the accused no 1 namely Girish Nair, the then Major, 19 Rajput (Bikaner) who is now retired from service or not ? .

8) Whether the victim's family/EEVFAM has a right to file a protest petition in the given fact situation of denial of prosecution sanction by the Ministry of Defence, Gol or not ? .

9) It is revealed that the then District & Session, Manipur East submitted the Judicial Enquiry Report (JER), dated July 31, 2010 to the Gauhati High Court (Imphal Bench) in connection with the killing of P Sanajit by the accused persons and the High Court (then Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench) on finding material substance against the accused persons passed an order dated July 29, 2011 thereby awarded a sum of Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the wife of deceased.

Now the question is "Will the proceeding of the present case remain stagnant or a futile exercise/empty formality even after aforesaid finding of Judicial Enquiry and subsequent award by the High Court on the ground of denial of prosecution sanction against the accused persons? 10) Whether this Court will have the power to take cognizance of the present case even in the face of denial of prosecution sanction by the competent authority or not?" EEVFAM and HRA thanked Advocate Okram Kiranjit and Advocate Okram Nutankumar for their able representation of the cause of the victims, pro bono.

* This news is as published by respected news daily at Imphal, whose name is duly marked as 'Source'. E-Pao.net is not responsible for it's sanctity & originality.

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