IT News
Imphal, Feb 23:
Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families’ Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert (HRA) has strongly condemn the weaponization of human rights struggle for petty political gains.
The EEVFAM and HRA in a statement said that certain political parties and candidates contesting the 12th Manipur Legislative Election are using the work of our organisations, particularly the PIL, Writ Petition No. 129 of 2012 pertaining to the extrajudicial killing of 1528 civilians, pending in the Supreme Court of India, and the plight of the victim families for their own cheap political propaganda.
Instead of weaponizing the issue of extrajudicial killing during election time, EEVFAM and HRA requested the upcoming government, irrespective of which party or coalition comes to power, to take the long-sufferings of victims seriously by initiating prompt, thorough, impartial, and independent investigation of the remaining cases of extra judicial killings not yet investigated.
The rights bodies also demanded granting of prosecution sanction under section 197 of Cr.PC and section 6 of the Armed Forces Special Power, 1958 against the security personnel found to be involved in the killings and also to institute a Truth Commission in Manipur to bring out the whole truth behind the mass extra-judicial execution and to identify the needs of the victims who have suffered untold miseries with the aim of resituating their broken lives due to the unlawful act of the security forces.
The statement said that even though BJP prominently highlighted the issue of Fake Encounter in the Charge-sheet Against Congress in the run up to the 11th Manipur Legislative Assembly Election of 2017, the promise to investigate and punish the killers remains unfulfilled. It added that in the last five years of its rule the State Government did not initiate a single criminal investigation on these cases, leave alone punishing them. And even in the few investigations conducted by the CBI/SIT on the direction of the Supreme Court, the Union Government denied prosecution sanctions against the personnel of the Armed Forces of the Union who are found to be involved in the killings of the innocent civilians.
“Despite initial enthusiasm of the present government, the call for initiating a Transitional Justice Process by institution a Truth Commission to address the burning needs of the victim families remain silent till date. In fact, all the efforts of the families to get some compensation under section 357 A of CrPC remain frustrated as the State’s Victim Compensation Scheme is not allocated sufficient fund”, the statement said.
