Also nail those who gave the order : SC cracking the whip
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 17 2017 -

Focus should be on those who gave the orders to kill, in addition to those personnel who were just following those instructions.

Nobody would fault Executive Director of Human Rights Alert, Babloo Loitongbam for airing this line of thought more particularly in the aftermath of the explosive confession of former Head Constable of the Manipur Police Commando, Th Herojit that he killed Ch Sanjit in cold blood on the instruction of his officer on July 23, 2009 inside a pharmacy at BT Road.

With the Supreme Court directing the CBI to probe 62 cases of alleged extra-judicial killings in Manipur and then submit its report by December 31 this year, it is clearly indicative that the Supreme Court has found certain cases listed by EEVFAM meriting a probe by a Special Investigation Team of the CBI.

The first round has obviously gone to the petitioner and one hopes that the Special Investigation Team of the CBI takes the matter to its logical conclusion.

Definitely brings back the days of 2012 when the Santosh Hegde Committee thundered, ‘A 17 year old terrorist ?’, in response to the submission of the defendant, the State and the Army.

The total number of cases put up by EEVFAM is 1528 and the Santosh Hegde Committee came up with this observation by going through just six cases, picked up at random.

The final verdict is yet to be spelt out, but in many ways, the directive of the Supreme Court must have put the State and the Army on the back foot while to many human rights defenders and members of EEVFAM this will certainly be a big morale booster.

Not only to the human rights defenders and EEVFAM but also to the common people of the State, folks who had become fed up of the stories/versions dished out by the security personnel after each and every ’so called’ encounter.

Divine justice. This is what many would be tempted to say at this juncture, for anyone, who comes under the definition of civilian, must have undergone that humiliating moments at the hands of some of the security personnel, particularly the policemen on duty.

Being barked at to stop, especially on the eve of Republic Day and Independence Day and perhaps no one would know this better than those engaged in the profession of disseminating news to the people every day, the media persons, who are engaged in the local papers.

True, all armed groups boycott Independence Day and Republic Day every year and there is a reason why cops are deployed in full strength just ahead of these two important functions of the country, but there is something called courtesy and being polite to the passers by.

Not for anything is it generally held that it is the conduct of these policemen which make the boycott call of the armed groups all that more successful.

That this plain fact refused to register in the minds of the powers that be is what made the situation all that graver.

It was amid this that reporters had to go out late in the evening to cover stories of ‘encounters’ late in the evening, say at 9 pm or 10 pm.

However things took a turn for the better when EEVFAM approached the Supreme Court in 2012 and the Santosh Hegde Committee took up six cases at random.

The Supreme Court has cracked the whip and it will be interesting to see how the CBI goes ahead with the task of rewinding the moments of ‘encounter’ from the implicated officials and it should not forget the question..‘who gave the order’.