SC admits plea on extra-judicial killings
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, October 01 2012: TAKING SERIOUS note over allegation of extra-judicial killings in Manipur, the Supreme Court today issued notices to the Centre and the state government on a plea for an independent probe into around 1,500 such cases.

A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai also asked the National Human Rights Commission to file its reply to the plea by November 5 .

The court's order followed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM), an association of the families of alleged victims, pleading the apex court to set up a special investigation team and direct inquiry into all such cases.

Informing media persons in Delhi in this regard, Neena Ningombam, Secretary of EEVFAM, said that in all, over 2,000 extra-judicial killings have taken place in Manipur, but no one has been held guilty till date.

"The petitioners seek orders from this court for setting up of a special investigation team of police officers of integrity from outside the state of Manipur to investigate all such killings," said senior advocate Colin Goansalves, appearing for the petitioner, who was also present at the press conference.

(File) Families of the victims during a meeting with UN Special Rapporteur Prof Christof Heyns at Guwahati

Neena Ningombam further alleged that innocent people with no criminal records have been killed by the security forces and no proper investigation has been done in such cases.

"Not only were there criminal investigations and prosecutions of the guilty, even departmental enquiries were not conducted and no policemen or personnel of the security forces were punished departmentally for their actions", she added.

"The magisterial inquiries that took place sometimes were conducted by the executive magistrates under the cover of secrecy and most often without intimation to the eyewitnesses and the members of the families.

They were conducted as eyewash," she said.

Recalling the incident of the death of her husband, Neena Ningombam said that on 4 November 2008 after enjoying a family lunch, her husband Nongmaithem Michael, went to a friend's helping him to set up his father's shradha ceremony.

Around 3 p.m.he got a phone call and left.

At 3.32 pm, she received a call from him saying that he was apprehended and told her to inform his sister who is well connected to the Police to secure his release.

"I cannot believe what he had said and I call him again to confirm.

But he didn't pick up; instead somebody else picked it up.

When I enquired about my husband he told me that he was in the toilet.

Continued on page 3 I ask him where they were and he told me that they were near our residence" she recalled.

Neena further informed that she along with the sisters and brothers of her husband tried to locate him in various police stations but in vain.

Later in the 9.00 pm ISTV news, her husband was shown as a militant killed in an encounter with a hand grenade by his side.

Her younger brother-in-law rushed to the morgue and confirmed that it was indeed Michael's body.

"Our family submitted memorandum to the Chief Minister of Manipur and the Director General of Police, pleading them to take action against the killers of my husband and the false charges leveled against him after he was killed.

But no action was taken", she lamented and further informed that on the advice of human rights activist she petitioned the Guwahati High Court which ordered the district judge Manipur east to conduct an inquiry into the matter on 10 November, 2009 .

She also stated that an old man who actually show Michael whisked away by the police commandos in their Gypsy finally agreed to depose before the court.

After almost three years of an uphill struggle the District Court finally wrote its findings on 12 July 2012 and concluded that - "In the result, I have decided that the husband of the petitioner, Nongmaithem Michael Singh, was killed by the personnel of Manipur Police Commando, Imphal West on 04-11-2008 at around 4.45 pm at Yenkaobung, Kameng and not from the exchange of firing or encounter between the husband of the petitioner and personnel of Manipur Police Commandos, Imphal West" .

The report was forwarded to the registrar of the Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench and we are awaiting the final decision of the High Court on the case, she further added.