Imphal, November 28: Distinguished political theorist Prof Charles Douglas Lummis, a US national who has taught at various colleges and universities including University of California (USA) and Okinawa International University (Japan) delivered the Ist Akoijam Byron memorial Lecture on �Rights of legitimate violence� at the Mini auditorium of RIMS, here today.

Defining the two diametrically opposite concepts of �legitimate� and �violence� within the legal framework of a modern State, Prof Lummis, whose book Radical Democracy has been widely-acclaimed, observed that there is an objective interest in continuation of crimes on the part of the law enforcing agencies in the society.

Although �Rights of legitimate violence� implies that the State should exercise power to protect the rights of the people, it is only hypothetical and the reality is quite different, he maintained, while claiming that more �violent deaths� of innocent people in the hands of the police have been witnessed during the 20th century than mankind has ever experienced during the course of human civilisation.

Apart from questioning the �legitimacy� of the provisions for �Rights of legitimate violence� in a modern State, Prof Lummis expressed serious concern over the possibility of its misuse by the State forces thereby causing more suffering and discontentment among the people.

Prof Lummis enlivened the lecture with anecdotes and recollection of his personal experiences on how they were trained during the US Marine Corps days for �breaking the natural resistance to killing�.

Chairperson of Manipur Human Rights Commission W A Shishak was the chief guest of the function chaired by Professor Gangmumei Kamei.

In his address, Shishak lamented over the �sorry state of affairs� prevailing in Manipur and said people have suffered a lot under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

People of Manipur, he said, are yet to enjoy the fruit of freedom, even though India has attained independence from the yoke of British colonialism for more than fifty years now.

The Act which was once enacted by the Britishers to subjugate the Indian people is now being used against its own people by the Government of India, he said, adding categorically �I don�t feel honoured to a citizen of a country where such a draconian law has been imposed on its people for more than half a century�.

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