Independent People's Tribunal on functioning of MHRC held
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, April 14 2012:
A one-day 'Independent People's Tribunal on functioning of Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC)' was held at the conference hall of the Institute of Cooperative Management, Lamphelpat, Imphal today.
The function was organized by Human Rights Law Network, Manipur in association with HRA, AMBA, CORE, CLAHRO, FREINDS, MACR, M-PRIM, TIPS, JKPF, WING, WAD and Rongmei Lu Phuam Assam, Manipur and Nagaland.
The Independent People's Tribunal minutely discussed issues related to amending the provisions of Protection of Human Rights Act so that the defunct Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) can be streamlined and strengthened to function as an effective, efficient, transparent and accountable institution that addresses human rights violation.
The session also decided to press the authority concerned for doing the needful in this regard.
During the Independent People's Tribunal, various victims who have approached the MHRC but could not get a favourable result shared their testimonies.
Apart from hearing of testimonies by a panel of eminent personalities, a number of experts including Babloo Loitongbam, Executive Director, Human Rights Alerts, Manipur; Laishramcha Jinine Meetei, Social Activist; Wahengbam Joykumar, Executive Director, Human Rights Initiative; Khaidem Mani, Advocate, Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench; K Rabei, Advocate, Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench and YM Lokendro, Advocate, Gauhati High Court, Imphal Bench, also delivered their critiques on the present status of MHRC.
Dr KS Subramanian, Senior fellow, Council for Socisal Development, New Delhi; Bharat Bhushan, former Executive Editor, Hindustan Times; Yambem Laba, former member, MHRC; Th Sudhir, former District and Session Judge, Manipur East and Kh Gomati, former District and Session Judge, Manipur West were the panel members.