John, the Inspector
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: March 06, 2013 -

In Manipur where people have come to regard 'highhandedness' as the first and foremost defining characteristic of men in uniform, it would be hard to find anyone who would accept with a sense of disbelieve the allegation of intimidation and job offer by a team of Police Commandos to the family members of a fake encounter victim or extrajudicial killing, which is presently under the purview of investigation by an independent Inquiry Commission appointed by the Supreme Court.

According to the petition filed by Nameirakpam Ongbi Lembi Leima, mother of slain Nobo, through her counsel to the Inquiry Commission, a team of Police Commandos led by one Inspector John came to their house and intimidated them while her husband was away in connection with appearing in the hearing of the Commission on March 3.

At first, the Inspector informed the family members that they have come for the purpose of verification and asked them many questions about Nobo and his nephew Gobind, who were killed in an alleged shoot-out by Imphal West District Police Commandos at Lamphel on April 4, 2009.

After the Inspector failed to implicate both Nobo and Gobind as insurgents, a charge which the family members vehemently denied, he also allegedly tried to offer job to the family saying that he has given jobs to many people in the same locality, and so, he could do the same for one of the younger brothers of slain Nobo.

If it is not a classic case of police arrogance, haughtiness or simply highhandedness, what is to be made out of it?

This incident has only shown once again, how men in uniform, more particularly the State Police Commandos, have come to live under the impression that they could do whatever they want and get away with it.

Such mindset of the 'elite' police force has been at the root cause of many a conflict and confrontation between the Police Commandos and the people in this strife-torn State, and it brought bad name to the whole Police Department time and again.

In the present case, the overbearing nature of Police Commando team led by Inspector John has blinded them so much that they could not even realize what would be the consequences of their conduct in flexing muscle at the house of an alleged fake encounter victim.

Yes, in normal condition, they could have got away with it like always, but this time, it is going to be quite different specially when a Supreme Court appointed independent Inquiry Commission is currently in the city to study the possible involvement of men in uniform in the unhealthy practice of extra-judicial killings or stage-managed shoot-outs, as some groups of people, would say.

In fact, the Inquiry Commission could have been already gauged from this particularly incident why the people in Manipur have been crying foul over numerous cases of death in what the official claimed to be shoot-out encounters with suspected armed underground activists, which, interestingly, always took place in some specific encounter-prone areas or sites like Lamphel, Sadokpam, Lamdeng, Wabgai Keirak, Sielen, Hiyangthang, etc, just to name a few. Period.