Finally, the state government of Manipur ordered a judicial inquiry into the fake encounter of Mr. Chungkham Sanjit on August 27. The decision came after a month of turmoil with bandhs, protests and curfews in the state due to the alleged fake encounter. The judicial inquiry commission will be headed by Retired Justice, PG Aggarwal of the Gauhati High Court.
However, the Joint Action Committee or Apunba Lup, formed in connection with the killing of the youth, is of the notion that there is no need to form a commission when it is quite evident from the photographs taken by the Tehelka magazine that who all were involved in the fake encounter. The Lup is asking the government to take immediate steps without going into judicial probe by punishing all those involved in the encounter.
It is to be noted that on July 23, Ch Sanjit ,a former militant and Th Rabina, a pregnant woman were killed and five others were injured during an encounter at the busy Imphal market. Tehelka, a national news magazine exposed the fake encounter in front of the nation. Due to the Tehelka’s exposure, the truth came in front of the public and for a month now, the people of Manipur have started strong agitation by staging protests, bandhs, strikes and the like. People are protesting against the insensitive attitude of the system, they are raising slogans like ‘Stop killing innocents’, ‘ Stop fake encounters’, ‘CM should resign’, ‘Suspend the commandos’, the famous old slogan – ‘Repeal AFSPA’ and the like.
To combat the agitation, the state government imposed indefinite curfew all over the state which is still going on. Besides, security has been alerted in and around Imphal town by deploying armed forces at strategic locations. Also, during the relaxation hour of curfew, gathering of four-five people is prohibited.
In all these developments, it is the civilians of the state who are suffering and are stuck in this vicious circle of regular killings of innocent people, bombings, fight between the system and the so-called freedom fighters (insurgents) of Manipur. According to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Manipur reported the second highest number of fake encounters after Uttar Pradesh during 2008-09. A senior home ministry official said, "The rising figures could well explain the current public unrest in Manipur where people have been on the street against trigger-happy cops ever since the state witnessed the killing of two persons in an encounter on July 23.”
It is so unfortunate that today’s mainstream media do not have enough space to cover these grievous situations where 2-3 persons, mostly civilians, are killed on a daily basis in this part of the country. Instead they give importance to some potholes developed on a city road, the minor mishaps happening in a metro city, celebs’ quarrel and many such trivial issues.
It is to be observed how effective the said commission would be in probing the fake encounter; specially, when the people of Manipur have stopped believing in such commissions and the system itself. They want quick result and quick justice from a responsible government. “We demand punishment of accused police commandos”, Phulindro Konsam, Spokesman of Apunba Lup said, “otherwise we’ll launch various forms of agitations.”
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