Armed Forces Special Powers Act AFSPA Statement by Neena Ningombam
at Palais des Nations 2013

Geneva, Switzerland, 29th May, 2013

Armed Forces Special Powers Act
Conference Room no VIII, Palais des Nations
Geneva, Switzerland

29 May 2013

STATEMENT
BY
NEENA NINGOMBAM

SECRETARY
EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTION VICITM FAMILIES ASSOCIATION, MANIPUR

First of all I thank the Asian Legal Resource Centre, the Franciscans International and the Human Rights Alert for inviting me and my organization, the Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) to jointly organize this side event. This is indeed a dream come true to speak here, on the sidelines of the 23rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, when Christof Heyns, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary execution is presenting his report on his official mission to India in March 2012.

My husband Michael went out after having lunch on 4 November 2008 and he never returned home. I got a phone call that afternoon from him that he was picked up by a group of Manipur police commandos and to contact a relative in the police to secure his release. I call him back but the phone was never picked up. After several attempts one of the police commandos picked up the phone and started ridiculing me. When asked where they were, he told me that they are nearby our house only. Being suspicious of their behavior I shared the story to other family members. We made desperate attempts to find out his whereabouts by contacting the higher police authorities, but it was of little consequence.

In the evening, in the nine O’clock news in the local cable news channel, I was shocked to see the dead body of my husband as being killed in an encounter with the police at Lamshang about 15 kilometers from my house. A hand grenade was also placed next to him. Even in my wildest dream it never occurred to me that my husband will die such a death.

Human rights activists and Meira Paibi (women activists) visited us in solidarity and support. We submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister of Manipur, the Director General of Police and other public authorities urging them to take appropriate action on this unlawful killing. But as no action was forthcoming from them, we decided to move the court. A writ petition was filed in the Gauwahati High Court, Imphal bench in 2009. The High Court directed the District and Session Judge to inquiry into the death of my husband.

I visited the spot where my husband was killed and persuaded the witnesses to come forward and to depose before the Court. It was not an easy task as most of the eye witnesses were scared of the consequences of deposing against the police commandos. I have to make several visits and persuade the key witness to help built my case in the court. Finally some of them agreed and stated the truth in the court. In 2012, the report of the District and Session Judge concluded that my husband was killed in a fake encounter and that he was not a “terrorist”.

It took me a while to realize that hundreds of young women are widowed as their husbands are arbitrarily executed in Manipur. It was a glimmer of hope when some human rights activist started organizing these widows. On 11 July 2009, some thirty of us got together, shared our stories and cried the whole day on each other’s shoulders. On the other hand pouring out our pent up emotions and finding that we are not alone was such a relief, we all felt considerably light at the end of the day. We wanted to build on this collective strength and fight together for justice. This is how Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) was born!

We soon reached out to more widows. We meet every second Saturday and listen to each other’s problems and try to find solutions together. With the support of Just Peace Foundation , we started offering micro-credits to the widows to form their own self-help groups. This could strengthen the widows to do a little better whatever they have been doing for a living. Some are investing on handlooms, some on fisheries, others on piggeries and yet others to run small grocery shops. But when we tried to register EEVFAM as a society, the register’s office denied permission as they consider the word ‘extrajudicial execution’ as ‘anti-state’. So we end up registering ourselves as a Trust.

The plight of the widows became gradually visible in public discourses as EEVFAM started taking active part in the civil society processes. EEVFAM has given us the strength to be who we are and face the world in our own terms with dignity and grace. The mental and emotional support that we draw from this collective can hardly be over stated.

Besides pursuing the cases of our husbands individually we are now collectively fighting for justice. With the help of Human Rights Alert, we have moved the Supreme Court of India demanding proper investigation in 1,528 cases of extrajudicial executions in Manipur documented by the civil society from 1979 to 2012. The Court has randomly chosen 6 cases out of these cases and constituted a three member High Power Committee headed by Justice Santosh Hedge, former judge of the Supreme Court to dig up the truth.

The Committee submitted its report to the Court in April 2013 and found that all the six case were not genuine encounter as claimed by the security forces and that none of the seven victims had any prior criminal records, in sharp contrast to the claims by the police that they were “hard core terrorist”. But unfortunately the Court has not given us the petitioners a copy of the committee’s report while it has liberally shared the same with the murders of our husbands. Nevertheless we continue to pin our hopes in the apex court that it will eventually show us the report and deliver the long awaited justice.

I most humbly appeal to one and all to support us in our struggle for basic dignity and justice in Manipur, North East India and beyond.

Thank you once again for your solidarity and support.

NEENA NINGOMBAM

SECRETARY
EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTION VICITM FAMILIES ASSOCIATION, MANIPUR
Kwakeithel Ningthemkol (Paite Veng)
Imphal – 795001, Manipur, India
Email: eevfam(at)gmail(dot)com