Reopening the BT Road killing : ‘Murder in plain sight’
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: February 17 2017 -

Re-open and re-investigate the July 23, 2009 BT Road killing.

Summon the then Additional SP in connection with the case and suddenly the Centre or rather the CBI seems to have taken cognizance of the version spelt out by suspended Head Constable Th Herojit.

It may be a coincidence but the timing is just too significant to ignore.

Hit the Congress where it hurts on the eve of the Assembly election, seems to be a line which is appropriate at this juncture.

Remember what Herojit had said when he made his revelation before the National media at New Delhi in which he alleged that the instruction to finish off Ch Sanjit was issued by the Additional SP under the knowledge of all the higher ups.

Stuff which comes straight out from a thriller and herein lies the danger of politicising an issue as plain as ‘murder in plain sight.’ Manipur is not new to custodial killing. Remember there is a case going on at the Supreme Court involving more than 1000 cases of alleged custodial deaths, thanks to the drive taken up by EEVFAM and Human Rights Alert.

And all will certainly remember the days in Manipur when Tehelka came out with its explosive story and sequential pictures which showed Ch Sanjit being accosted outside Maimu pharmacy along BT Road, being taken inside the hospital and his lifeless body being brought out.

Naturally Manipur erupted as one, once the local media in Imphal picked up the story from Tehelka and went to town carrying the sequential photographs as well.

Eight years down the line and the BT Road story has come back to haunt the individuals who were present at the scene, especially the law enforcing agencies.

The confession of Th Herojit and the summon of the then Additional SP by the CBI has only made the case more interesting.

Now will Manipur will see justice ? This is a question that is bound to be raised by all and hopefully the case will be taken to its logical conclusion.

It was with a sense of immunity and impunity that all the cases of extra-judicial killings have been committed and if what Herojit has had to say is true then it is this same trend which is visible in the killing of Sanjit.

Let the summon not stop with Dr Ak Jhalajit for there are others who the CBI may question too.

Let the whip be cracked against the highest authority for here it is not only the case of an individual but also about the mentality of a force which is there to uphold the rule of law.

Not a case of witch hunting but a case about establishing the truth and fixing responsibilities.

The sense of immunity and impunity has to be dealt with and lesson needs to be rung out that no one is above the law. Let a water tight case be built and all those established guilty be made to face the music.