New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday decided to appoint a commission comprising former apex court judge Santosh Hegde, former CEC J M Lyngdoh and a senior police officer to hold an inquiry into the fake encounter killings in Manipur.
A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai, however, said it would pass the formal order on Monday after getting assents from Hegde and Lyngdoh.
The commission will be holding enquiry in six cases where the magisterial inquiry raised question on the genuineness of the encounter and security forces had “unlawfully” killed people including a 12-year-old boy.
The court was hearing a PIL by an association of the families of the alleged victims, pleading with the apex court to set up a special investigation team and direct inquiry into around 1528 such cases.
The association said in all, over 2000 odd extra-judicial killings have taken place in the state, but no one has been held guilty till date.
It alleged innocent people with no criminal records have been killed by security forces and no proper investigation has been done in such cases.
The apex court while deciding to form the commission said, “Magisterial inquiry does not inspire confidence as it is not satisfactory and none, including the army personnel appeared before it.” It, however, turned down the plea for SIT investigation.
It also refused to go into the legality of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act which grants special powers to the Armed Forces in disturbed areas.
“At the moment we do not have to go into the AFSPA. It is a complex issue. You do not have to rush. This is not the end of the matter. We have just begun. We have to go a long way,” the bench told the petitioner. (PTI)
