Welcoming the heat from the SC : On 'extra-judicial killings'
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: November 09, 2012 -

The State Government, in particular the Home Department, must be feeling the heat.

A certain pleasure there is in coming to know that the Supreme Court stopped short of literally rapping the State Government on the knuckles for failing to file its report on alleged extra-judicial killings in the State.

Not sadistic pleasure, but a sense of feeling vindicated that the apex Court of the country should pull up the State Government which has for years insulated itself from the voice of the public, under numerous pseudonyms, Magisterial Inquiries, being one of the most prominent.

"Do it quickly. People are dying out there. File your report by November 19" was not just another instruction issued by the Supreme Court, but is reflective of how indifferent the State Government has been to the numerous charges of gross human rights violations committed by its security forces.

The case is yet to be heard and the last word is yet to be said, but the Supreme Court has obviously taken note of the fact that "People are dying out there (Here)."

This should at least come as some sort of a comfort to numerous kins and relatives of people who have disappeared after allegedly being picked up by security personnel as well as civilians killed under trumped up charges by security personnel.

Over 1500 innocent people killed by security personnel is the figure put up by the petitioners in the Public Interest Litigation filed before the Supreme Court and a Special Investigation Team is the proposal mooted to investigate these cases.

Not for nothing is Manipur also known as the Killing Fields among some of the concerned section of the people.

July 23, 2009 is a case that comes to mind vividly whenever the question of extra-judicial execution is raised.

Importantly this involves the State police, which does not enjoy the immunity granted by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

It is then obvious that cases of extra-judicial killings in the State need to be seen beyond the ambit of this Army Act and should encompass the State forces.

State sponsored terrorism is a term that comes to mind. The unwritten and unacknowledged immunity granted to the security personnel, especially the State police, can be equally as menacing as the legal protection provided to the Central forces under AFSPA.

An important point that has not been addressed to with the priority that it should. It remains to be seen how the State Government responds to the instructions of the Supreme Court to file their answer on alleged extra-judicial killings by November 19, but already this comes close to a moral victory for the petitioners.

The dead cannot be brought back to life and the disappeared too will not reappear, but this should not deter the pursuit of justice.

This is the underlying point that should be taken note of in the petition filed before the Supreme Court.

That there is a gulf of difference between enforcing the rule of law and turning the State forces into killing machines is a point that needs to be drilled into the heads of the political leaders who call the shots.

Let the Judiciary do it.