New Delhi, Jul 15 : The Supreme Court order about
62 cases of the alleged extra-judicial killings by security forces and police
have brought the focus to alleged abuse of police and military powers in
Manipur, but the allegations of fake encounter killings in Mumbai and UP only
show that things require closer examination. In fact, official sources said
here that of 1,788 such “extra judicial” killings across India between 2002 and
2013, Uttar Pradesh had the dubious distinction with the maximum number of 743
fake encounter deaths. A 410-page petition filed in 2012 on behalf of two
Manipur-based organisations in the Supreme Court cited the instance of a
22-year-old who went looking for a missing cow on his bicycle and was found
shot dead. In another case a 12-year-old boy was alleged to have been shot dead
in a “joint operation” by Assam Rifles and Manipur police commandos. The boy was
suspected to be a member of Manipur-based group PULF, revealed investigations
by a Supreme Court-appointed high-power commission, headed by the retired judge
Santosh Hegde. Rather alarmingly, the report maintained that 30 armed security
force personnel with Ak-47 and assault Rifles could not overpower the
12-year-old boy. In Manipur yet again the killing of a former militant Sanjit
in capital Imphal in 2009 also made people raise eye brows. But officials both
in states like Manipur and in the Centre – albeit on the condition of anonymity
say – even as human rights abuse remains a vital issue in the security related
operations, a balance needed to be struck between protecting civilians and
maintaining security in high sensitive states. The Supreme Court order on July
14, 2017 directing the CBI to form a team of officers to conduct the probe is
not surprising although. In April, 282 cases were referred to the Supreme Court
for verification. In 2012, taking cognisance of petitions, the Supreme Court
had ordered the Central government and the Manipur government to respond to
allegations that “as many as 1528 people including women and children have been
killed” by security forces and state commandos between 1978 and 2012. According
to human right activists, often these 'encounters' are linked to high-profile
politics and also come as part of damage control strategy by security forces
and police. Among the high profile cases, BJP president Amit Shah, then a
Minister in Gujarat, has faced litigation himself in what is known as
Sohrabuddin-encounter case. On December 30, 2014, however, Mr Shah was
discharged by a special CBI court in Mumbai. In Gujarat, there were other
high-profile cases also like “encounters” involving the deaths of Sadiq Jamal
and Ishrat Jahan (2004) and Sohrabudin Sheikh in 2005 and Tulsiram Prajapati in
2006.
