New Delhi, July 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.
But often the ‘encounters’ and harsh laws like Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) are taken as bitter pills. BJP MP Satyapal Singh, a former Mumbai police commissioner, said while there have been allegations of fake encounters, the performance of Mumbai police has been largely very good in dealing with the underworld dons.
“In Punjab, the so called police high handedness under KPS Gill broke the spinal cord of Sikh militancy,” says another BJP leader Jagadambika Pal. In Mumbai, encounter specialist Daya Nayak made news first in 2003. He was accused by a journalist for having links with the underworld and carrying out ‘killing spree’ at the directives of few fugitive dons. Daya was also arrested in 2006. According to Nayak’s supporters, however, Daya has been framed and in 2010 a Court quashed all the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charges against him.
In the north east again, heavy deployment of security personnel often has been a major issue of discussions. The Asian Human Rights Commission estimates that there is at least one security personnel for every 20 citizens in Manipur. In fact, the entire north east region remains heavily militarised region wracked for decades by insurgency. But the attempts to dilute AFSPA in 2012 by the Manmohan Singh government were opposed by the Defence Ministry under veteran Congressman AK Antony, then Defence Minister. However, observers say this law has “failed to tackle insurgency” per se.
Moreover, as Hegde panel comprising among others former Chief Election Commissioner, J M Lyngdoh, and the former DGP, Karnataka, Ajay Kumar Singh also said there were fake encounters and the victims often did not have any criminal records. “It would appear that the security forces believed that the suspects involved in the encounters had to be eliminated and the forces acted accordingly,” the report stated. But this legislation AFSPA, initially drafted in 1958, goes along with the Disturbed Areas Act. Despite severe criticism and political opposition, the Armed forces and the Government of India since last few decades have held it as a required tool to fight the secession movements. However, the civil liberty activists oppose the same calling it draconian. UNI