Zero tolerance for fake encounters: Modi Govt
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies

New Delhi, August 16 2014 : The Narendra Modi Government has told the Supreme Court that it has adopted a zero tolerance approach towards fake encounters and assured that anyone guilty of such extra-judicial killings would be dealt with sternly.

This response by the Union Home Ministry was to the report submitted by the apex Court appointed Justice Santosh Hegde Commission, which inquired into a dozen fake encounter killings by armed forces and police in Manipur and found the allegations to be true.

The Justice Hegde panel was appointed after a PIL by NGOs 'Extra-Judicial Execution Victims Families Association of Manipur' and 'Human Rights Alert' alleged that little had been done to bring to book the guilty among armed forces and state police for the alleged 1,528 extra-judicial killings over the last 30 years.

They alleged that Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was a shield for security forces which ordinary criminal laws find difficult to penetrate and had requested the court to set up a special investigation team to probe the recent fake encounters, including that of a minor boy.

The Home Ministry said, "The Union Government shall not tolerate even one false encounter and shall not spare anyone guilty of false encounter, but at the same time, it is necessary to ensure that no innocent security personnel is harassed for an official act performed in good faith and without any mala fide intention" .

It narrated the ground situation in Manipur and said several underground militant organizations were active in the state and were employing every possible method to separate the state from the country with the help of massive ill-gotten money gathered through extortion, killings and with help from outside the country.

It said the armed forces were operating in a disturbed area where the militants' sympathizers whipped up false propaganda on an encounter killing to term it fake.

In such 'fake' encounters, if an innocent security personnel was harassed, it would deal a severe blow to the morale of the security forces, it added.

"AFSPA provides the barest minimum legal protection to security forces which operate in unfriendly and insecure environment,' the Ministry said and defended the protection to security personnel from local police and criminal trials.

The Centre rejected Justice Hegde panel's recommendation that extension of AFSPA in Manipur must have the approval of the State legislature.

"This will make it difficult for the (central) Government to take action when necessary," it said.

The ministry said officers were amongst the main targets of the militants who indulged in mindless violence in the state.

Giving instances of 27 officers of various ranks killed by militants in the last few years, the Centre said, "Several IAS, IPS and local officers lost their lives to this inhuman butchery.

Despite all these dangers, the Manipur administration did manage to function and somehow ensured delivery of services to the common man" .

The Centre said the procedure adopted by Justice Hegde commission to inquire into the fake encounters was flawed.

"The commission has followed a faulty procedure that has prejudiced the personnel of security forces," it said, alleging that during the inquiry process, they were denied the minimum rights given under the Criminal Procedure Code and were compelled to be witnesses in cases where they were likely to be incriminated.

It also said that amicus curiae in the case, Maneka Guruswamy, "acted suo motu as if she were a counsel on behalf of the complainant side and not a neutral person" .

"The findings of the commission which doubt the genuineness of the operations/encounters in the said cases are absolutely incorrect and legally untenable, and there is no cause for conducting any further investigation in the four cases in which personnel from Assam Rifles were involved as part of the operation against militants," it said.

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