Manipur: Victim families welcome Supreme Court's decision on extrajudicial killings in state

The Extrajudicial Execution Victims Families Association Manipur (EEFVAM) and Human Right Alert (HRA) have welcomed the Supreme Court's (SC) ruling, wherein, the apex court asked the state High Court to decide the issue of grant of sanction to prosecute the army personnel involved in extrajudicial killings in Manipur from 2000 to 2012  within six months.

''This is a very welcome move because the matter of prosecution sanction which has as a reference case from the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Imphal West has been pending the Manipur high court for almost one and half years. So, this direction from the Supreme Court to complete this within six months is a very welcome move,'' said HRA executive director Babloo Loitongbam on October 23 while speaking to the media.  

''And the sooner the court comes with a positive verdict it will be better for families seeking justice from several years,'' he added. 

Notably, a PIL filed in the apex court in 2012 by 'Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association and HRA, seeking a probe into 1,528 cases of fake encounters that allegedly took place under the shadow of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.

The SC on July 14, 2017, constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and order the registration of FIRs to investigate such incidents.

In compliance with the SC's order, the SIT registered 39 cases, of which 30 final reports were submitted to various lower courts in the state.