SC orders probe into 83 cases of fake encounters

By Paojel Chaoba

IMPHAL| July 14

After five years, a double bench of the Supreme Court today comprising Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Uday Umesh Lalit ordered investigation into 83 cases of fake encounters perpetrated by the state police commandos, army and paramilitary forces.

The court ordered the CBI director to institute a special investigating team (SIT) comprising of 5 members within two weeks.

The team is to probe the cases of fake encounters, to register FIRs and to charge-sheet against the involved personnel. The SIT is directed to hand over the investigation report by December 2017.

It dismissed aside the concerns of the Chief of Army Staff that FIRs cannot be warranted against the officers while engaged in a counter insurgency situation and pronounced that any allegation of use of excessive force or retaliatory force by uniformed personnel resulting in the death of any person necessitates a through inquiry into the incident.

The court observed that the 1528 cases submitted by EEVFAM cannot be investigated in totality as the documentation was inadequate but the petitioning body has been directed to complete the documentation.

However, the counsel of the petitioner has been able to gather information regarding 655 deaths.

“We do not think it appropriate to pass any direction for the time being in regard to the cases concerning written complaints, oral complaints, cases with eye-witness accounts and family related cases. It is not that every single allegation must be inquired into. It must be remembered that we are not dealing with individual cases but a systematic or institutional response related to constitutional criminal law,” the court observed.

The Supreme Court broke down the cases which can be probed as 34 deaths investigated by commissions of inquiry, 32 deaths considered by judicial inquiries and high court, 20 deaths inquired by the National Human Rights Commission and seven inquiry cases by justice Santosh Hegde commission. In total, the CBI led investigation team has to probe into 83 fake encounter cases.

The court left out the cases of Thangjam Manorama and some others on grounds that the issues are still pending at the Supreme Court. Some infamous cases which the court ordered the investigation are the June 18 killing in which 11 persons were mowed down by the CRPF while trying to storm the CM bungalow.

The Malom massacre in 2002 in which Assam Rifles killed 10 persons. Out of the 83 cases, Manipur police involvement is in 19 cases.