Human Rights Alert (HRA) urges DGP to release detained MU students, teachers
Source: IT News
Imphal, October 10 2018:
Human Rights Alert (HRA) expressed concern at the ongoing protest initiated by Manipur University Community demanding the removal of suspended Vice Chancellor Prof.A.P.Pandey and subsequent Police action resulting in injuries to a large number of students and arbitrary arrest and detention of students and teachers of Manipur University.
Babloo Loitongbam, Executive Director, HRA, in a letter addressed to the Director General of Police (DGP), states that HRA is particularly shocked by the two incidents, which are not just ordinary offence, adding that the wounds inflicted on students and university teachers may not heal very soon, the way the police personnel acted against the students and teachers is unacceptable.
Firstly, regarding the search and cordon operation conducted in the death of night on 21 September 2018 at the behest of a complaint by Pro VC Prof..KYugindro Singh, the letter reiterated that Police should be sensitive in dealing with a particular situation and exhaust all channels before resorting to use of force any kind of force, adding that it is mandatory to properly assess the whole situation otherwise any hasty action that goes out of control are often construed as post facto justified act.
The letter further elaborates that United Nations guidelines on the Basic Principles for Law Enforcement Agencies affirm the fundamental principles of necessity and proportionality.
These principles require respectively that force should be used by police only when strictly necessary for law enforcement and maintaining public order, and that the application of force should be proportional i.e.force should be applied only to the extent required for the legitimate ends of law enforcement and maintaining public order.
This Principle also affirms that injury or death from the use of force must be dealt with as a crime.
Exceptional circumstances or public emergencies do not justify departure from these Principles.
Secondly, the FIR (No.223 (9) 2018 U/S 147/148/149/365/342/307/506/364/120-B/34 IPC & 7 Cri Law Amdt Act) that had been drawn at the behest of present VC (i/c) Prof.Yugindro results to subsequent brutal police action including arrest and detention of the students and university teachers are highly questionable as the allegation labeled in the FIR is far beyond the truth and charges are found to be fabricated.
It was more evident that the entire scene was video-graphed and it is widely circulated in social media.
The video evidence shows complete contradiction to the alleged offence mentioned in the FIR.
Pointing out the fact that in an official letter coming out of the Governor's Secretariat, dated 5 October 2018, (No.GSM/MU-1/96 (Pt-III) a meeting was held between the Honorable Governor of Manipur and the VC (i/c) and charged VC (i/c) Prof Yugindro for defamation and crossing the limits of protocol and propriety and that during the said meeting Prof.Yugindro had admitted to Governor that he had filed a false FIR against the students as the students never manhandled him.
Under these circumstances when video evidence of the falsity of the charges have gone viral to the public and the office of the Governors itself have put down in black and white the fabricated nature of the charges, HRA seems not logic of prolonging the detention of the arrested students and teachers of Manipur University.
The letter strongly urge the Director General of Police, Manipur to release them also further requested the office to see to it that the concern police station investigate the whole incident of abuse of power and hold the officials accountable, which has caused so much public distress besides compromising the career of thousand of students.
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