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Manipur 2022: EEVFAM, HRA peeved with political parties for irresponsible use of human rights struggle as poll plank  

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“Even though BJP prominently high-lighted the issue of Fake Encounter in the Chargesheet 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,” the two rights’ bodies said in a joint statement.

TFM Desk

Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families’ Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert (HRA) has expressed dismay over irresponsible use of their human rights struggle for petty political gains in the upcoming Manipur election by some political parties and candidates.

In a joint release, EEVFAM and HRA said that certain political parties and candidates contesting the 12th Manipur Legislative Election are using the work of these 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”.

“Even though BJP prominently high-lighted the issue of Fake Encounter in the Chargesheet 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 stated.

EEVFAM and HRA also urged the upcoming government, irrespective of which party or coalition comes to power, to take the long sufferings of victims seriously and the take up, as a minimum, the following steps:

  1. Initiate prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigation of the remaining cases of extrajudicial killings not yet investigated;
  2. Promptly grant 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;
  3. Institute a Truth Commission in Manipur to bring out the whole truth behind the mass extrajudicial execution and to identify the needs of the victims who have suffered untold miseries with the aim of restituting their broken lives due to the unlawful act of the security forces.

Stating 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, EEVFAM and HRA said that 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 the initial enthusiasm of the present government, the call for initiating a Transitional Justice Process by institution of a Truth Commission to address the burning needs of the victim families remains 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 funds,” it said.

 

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