with a bamboo staff by an insurgent. Next some Manipur Rifles personnel who were escorting a corporation bus plying between Imphal and Moreh were killed near Tangjeng in Thoubal district. The third blood curdling case of violence was the killing of some BSF personnel who were on a shopping trip in Thangal market in Imphal city. Other incidents of violence followed in quick succession.

There are allegations of about 1500 extra judicial killings in Manipur. Out of these incidents the Supreme Court had selected six cases at random. One victim was a 13 year old Muslim boy in Thoubal district who was overpowered by police commandos, frog marched at a nearby paddy field and then shot dead in front of the dumbfounded family members. The apex court wanted to know how a 13 years old student could be a terrorist. The apex court was of the view that all the six cases were instances of extra judicial killings. Further inquiries were ordered in preparation for prosecuting the personnel involved.

As the foreign trained insurgents were getting the upper hand, the dreaded Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 was brought into effect in the State on September 8th, 1980 giving untrammeled powers to the security forces. The State forces which are not entitled to these provisions had in practice emulated the Central forces. The AFSPA gives carte blanche to the security forces. They are also immune from prosecution since Section 5 of the Act says that no prosecution can be implemented without a prior sanction from the Union Government. It has never happened that such a sanction had been issued since the Central leaders are of the view that prosecution will cause general demoralization to the rank and file. In plain English it means that it is of consequence if an innocent person is shot dead “on mere suspicion” in Manipur and that the personnel should never be made accountable. This is a fine interpretation of democracy in this age.

However some sections were disillusioned when the MHRC came into being. There had been reports of a standoff with elected representatives even at public functions. Moreover, despite the intervention of the Chief Minister of the State, warrants for the arrests had been issued to some police officers only. Once some CRPF personnel had beaten up innocent persons without provocation since the security forces had become an extra constitutional phenomena. One member of MHRC visited the injured victims in the hospital. He reportedly told the victims that he will see to it that the highhanded personnel are pulled up before MHRC. The next day one senior advocate reacted to thi8s by saying that MHRC has no jurisdiction over the Central forces and certainly the CRPF personnel cannot be pulled up.

On July 23, 2009 police personnel shot dead two persons including a pregnant housewife, Rabina Thokchom, who was walking near a bridge in Imphal city. It was alleged that a former insurgent, Sanjit Chungkham, fired at the police commandos. He was killed and Rabina was an innocent victim. However a Delhi news magazine published photographs showing that there was no encounter and that the former insurgent was killed in cold blood. After the usual delays, the Government had instituted a judicial inquiry since many sections of the society were not satisfied and boycotted the judicial commission.

At this juncture Rajendra Rajkumar, a member of MHRC issued a warrant for the arrest to L.Kailun, SP Imphal West, Krishnatombi, the officer in charge of the police commandos of the district and some other commandos for their failure to appear before him on September 25th, 2009. He had taken up the case of the “encounter”. The Government was not happy with this development and advised the member to close it down since the Government had already set up a judicial inquiry commission. However Rajkumar issued an order for the arrest of these police officers and for them to be produced before him on October 9, 2009.

Human rights activists fear that in the absence of the MHRC, the State and the Central forces will unleash a reign of terror among the people.

Mercifully, an ugly confrontation was avoided. This was a bitter lesson to the Government. The tenure of the Chairman and members had expired on May 9, 2010. Chief Minister Okram bobi seems to be under heavy political pressure not to appoint a new chairman and members. There have been agitations and Public Interest Litigations demanding revival of MHRC. However the Government seems to have set its mind to not doing so.

The Asian Centre for Human Rights had filed a complaint on September 16th, 2011 with National Human Rights Commission relating to the torture of Noor Kamal Sheikh. He was alleged to have been tortured by some policemen on September 5th, 2011. NHRC forwarded the complaint to MHRC. However the Deputy Secretary replied by pointing out that as it had become defunct on May 9, 2010 the matter could not be taken up. The Asian Centre for Human Rights is demanding recalling of all cases from MHRC.

Human rights activists fear that in the absence of the MHRC, the State and the Central forces will unleash a reign of terror among the people. They see a motive behind the Government’s decision saying that this may be to give a free hand to these trigger happy personnel. However Government sources said that there were allegations of excesses even during the functioning of the MHRC. In any case the Government institutes magisterial, judicial and other inquiries whenever there are grounds. Besides this, serious cases are entrusted to the CBI or looked into by the judicial inquiry commissions. In spite of all these steps taken, the human rights activists remain unconvinced.

Kavita Laithangbam