SC-appointed panel finds gross abuse of AFSPA in state
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, July 16 2013: The Supreme Court appointed Commission on Extrajudicial Killing chaired by former Supreme Court Justice Santosh Hedge has found gross abuse of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) with little or no effect on insurgency in the State.

The report of the Commission was made available to the petitioners by the Supreme Court yesterday.

It may be mentioned that the Commission was set up in January by the Supreme Court following a petition filed jointly by Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families' Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert (HRA) pleading for investigation into over 1,528 cases of fake encounters in Manipur.

However, to find out the veracity of the claim, only six cases related to killing of seven persons namely Azad Khan, Khumbongmayum Orsonjit, Nameirakpam Govind, Nameirakpam Nobo, Elangbam Kiranjit, Chongtham Umakanta and Akoijam Priyobarta had been selected randomly for initial probe.

The Commission was chaired by former Supreme Court Justice Santosh Hedge with former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh and former DGP of Karnataka Dr Ajai Kumar Singh as members.

Members of EEVFAM showing the copy of the Supreme Court- appointed Commission's probe report on extrajudicial killings

After conducting a 14-day hearing in March at Imphal and New Delhi, the Commission submitted its report to the Supreme Court on April 4 terming all six cases of encounters as indeed fake.

In the report, the Commission said that insurgency in Manipur is an undoubted reality, but the continuous use of the AFSPA for decades in the State has evidently had little or no effect on the situation.

The six cases, which have been shown to be not real encounters, are egregious examples of the AFSPA's gross abuse.

The report notes the imbalance in the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and states that "though the Act gives sweeping powers to security forces even to extend of killing a suspect with protection against prosecution; it does not provide any protection to the citizens against its possible misuse" .

It points to instances where security personnel fired 89 bullets with various weapons and in one case, the victim received 16 bullet wounds on his upper body.

The report highlights that in none of the six sample cases it probed, there was any security personnel injured.

The Commission has said the knowledge and understanding of the law and procedures of both the Assam Rifles and the Manipur Police Commandos are "very poor, though they are undertaking operations often resulting in death." The Supreme Court appointed Commission has also made several recommendations pertaining to governance and policing system of the State.

The Commission recommends that Manipur be given the best chance to bring about proactively inclusive governance with a hope for some social stability.

It also said that the Jeevan Reddy Committee to review the AFSPA, after its own hearings, found that AFSPA had become "a symbol of oppression, an object of hate and an instrument of discrimination and high-handedness".

The Commission has carefully gone through the said report and it is in respectful agreement with the observation of Justice Jeevan Reddy.

The Manipur administration has to be made more sensitive, proactive and responsive.

The police and policing have to be made more people-friendly.

A sensitive, proactive and responsive administration including people-friendly policing would go a long way in normalizing the situation and winning the confidence of the people.

There is nothing to show that these efforts have been made in right earnest.

On the other hand, it is brought to the notice of the Commission that the IAS and IPS officers are disconnected with the people, the report said.

Moreover, the police commandos cannot be allowed to terrorise people at will as they appear to be doing presently.

There is a need to clearly define the role, duties and responsibilities of the CDOs.

There has to be a clear command-and-control structure and their functioning has to be closely monitored by the Superintendent of the district and higher ups in the hierarchy of the police department.

There is nothing to show that any such thing is happening at present, it observed.

It is further recommended that a District Police Complaints Authority with at least one representative from civil society be constituted in all districts.

This Authority should be activated forthwith.

Wide publicity must be given to the creation and functioning of the Authority.

At present the Authority is meant to look into the complaints of misbehaviour, non-registration of cases etc.

by the police.

It is also recommended that the District Police Complaints Authority be authorized to look into public grievances against police, AR and other para-military forces deployed in Manipur regarding disappearance of persons.

The State level police complaint authorities should also have at least one member from the civil society and must review the functioning of the District Level Police Complaint Authority on a quarterly basis, the Commission noted.

The Commission further recommends that all cases of encounter resulting in death be investigated by the CID, by officers not below the rank of DSP/ASP.

For this purpose, the CID Manipur has to be suitably strengthened within a stipulated time of six months.

Special investigation teams should be formed to investigate all cases of UAPA.

The Commission also recommends that in the District and State Police Control Rooms, a separate cell be opened with a separate phone and computer for receiving complaints/information over phone/email about extortion etc.

A record should be made of all the complaints/information received and action should be taken immediately.

The investigation of the cases of encounter being handled by the CID shall be reviewed every month by an officer not below the rank of DIG of CID.

The DGP may also be directed to issue remedial detailed instructions to prevent irregularities and introduce modern methods of investigation in police force, the report mentioned.

Furthermore, it proposed that all cases of encounter resulting in death be reviewed once in three months by a Committee chaired by the Head of the State Human Rights Commission with Principal Secretary Home and DG of the State as members.

This review will be confined to seeing if there are valid grounds to continue the investigation.

The Commission proposed that cases of encounters resulting in death be tried by a Special Court constituted for this purpose.

The number of such courts can be decided by the State Government and the High Court of the State depending on the number of cases pending.

This will ensure quick disposal of cases.

The Commission also makes recommendations to rectify lapses in certain investigative procedures such as post-mortem, collection of empty cases of bullets from crime scenes and examination of seized items.

It is also recommended that the Manipur Government draw up and implement a five-year-plan for strengthening, equipping and training of the civil police in the State so as to altogether do away with the deployment of Union armed forces in aid of the civil power.

The Central Government must generously contribute to the means and expertise necessary for this endeavour.

Nothing would sooner normalize Manipur than confining Union armed forces to combating foreign enemies, the report said.

The report also mentioned that during the enquiry, the counsel of Ministry of Defence cited a judgement of Supreme Court to the effect that no charge-sheet can be filed against AR personnel without prior approval of the Central Government under Section 6 of AFSPA.

He clarified that if the case and circumstances demanded there was no bar to the drawing up of an FIR and an investigation against them by the local police against specific complaints.

These provisions must be made known to AR personnel, Manipur Police and people of the State to reduce the possibility of misuse of authority under the false cover of Section 6 of AFSPA, it added.

Meanwhile, members of Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families' Association Manipur (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert have expressed extreme happiness and satisfaction at the report of the Commission.

The hearings of the Commission were held from March 3 to March 7 in Imphal and from March 13 to March 21 in New Delhi.

The hearing of the case would commence from August 6 at the Supreme Court, Executive Director of Human Rights Alert Babloo Loitongbam told Hueiyen Lanpao.

He further said that the petitioners would also file a response to the Supreme Court on the report of the Commission.