IMPHAL, July 10 : Central government must heed the Supreme Court ruling on the importance of holding security forces accountable for human rights violations and repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts which grant soldiers virtual immunity from prosecution in civilian courts, Amnesty International India (AII) said in a release.
The Court is hearing a public interest litigation filed by Manipur based NGO Human Rights Alert (HRA) and a victims’ group - Extra-judicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur, seeking its intervention in the cases of 1528 alleged extrajudicial executions in Manipur from 1979 to 2012.
In its ruling on July 8 this year, it observed that all the allegations needed to be looked into and offences committed by security forces could be prosecuted in civilian courts. It also asked for more information about the cases. Proceedings would resume in four weeks.
“The Court’s ruling makes it clear that security force personnel accused of human rights violations must not be allowed to get away with impunity. It offers a ray of hope to the families of hundreds of people, who were allegedly extra-judicially executed in Manipur over the decades,” said Arijit Sen, Project Manager at AII.
The Court stated, “If any death was unjustified, there is no blanket immunity available to the perpetrator(s) of the offence. No one can act with impunity particularly when there is a loss of an innocent life.” “We welcome the judgment. It is a positive one. We shall have to wait on what the court decides on our demand for a special investigation team to investigate all the cases. The real sting is yet to come on the nature of investigations on the cases,” said Babloo Loitongbam, Executive Director, HRA.
In January 2013, the Court had appointed a three-member commission to determine whether six cases identified by the court were ‘encounter’ deaths – where security forces had fired in self-defence against members of armed groups – or extrajudicial executions. The Commission found that all the cases involved extrajudicial executions and also said that the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) was widely abused by security forces in Manipur.
Parts of Manipur, other north-eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir remain officially declared “disturbed areas,” where the AFSPA is in force. The Act provides soldiers with wide-ranging powers, including the use of lethal force, according to rights activists.
“The AFSPA violates constitutional rights to life and liberty and shields soldiers from justice. This judgment underlines that no one should be above the law. The government must recognise the import of this ruling and repeal the AFSPA,” Arijit Sen added.
