SC on Manipur ‘ killings’: Rights violations cannot be tolerated

New Delhi, July 5: Observing that violation of human rights cannot be tolerated, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the CBI to file final reports in four cases of alleged extra- judicial killings and fake encounters by the Army, Assam Rifles and police in Manipur by July 27.

The apex court said what had happened in Manipur appeared to be “widespread” and the issue must be given “far more importance” as people have lost their lives.

A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and U. U. Lalit said, “There are two things. We are not talking about violation of human rights only. We are talking about deaths. Death could be murder or could not be murder. This has to be given far more importance than violation of human rights.”

“What has happened here, it appears to be widespread,” the bench said, adding, “violation of human rights cannot be tolerated”.

The court, which is hearing a public interest litigation ( PIL) seeking a probe into as many as 1,528 cases of extra- judicial killings in Manipur, had on July 14 last year constituted the SIT and ordered lodging of FIRs and probe.

On Thursday, the bench also directed two officers of the National Human Rights

Commission ( NHRC), senior superintendent of police Mahesh Bhardwaj and deputy superintendent of police Ravi Singh,

to be made members of the SIT which would probe the remaining encounter cases.

It said these two officers “are co- opted to be a part of the SIT and will be entitled to access all record including the investigation reports”.

During the hearing, the bench also expressed its concern over the lack of adequate staff in NHRC and observed that the commission was “hopelessly overworked”.

The court also observed that the number of incidents and the victims mentioned in its July 14 last year’s order, were quite different from the figures given in the order of March this year, which reflected a reduction on both these counts. It said that for the purpose of clarity, there should be clear identification of the incidents and number of victims. The court also sought a response from the SIT on an application filed by the petitioner regarding four diaries, which as per their claim contained details of 100 more such encounters in Manipur, and posted the matter for hearing on July 27.