Manipur Extra Judicial Killings: Allegation of excessive force by Police or Armed Forces must be thoroughly enquired into: SC [Read Judgment]

Supreme Court of India Today has held that an allegation of excessive force resulting in the death of any person by the Manipur Police or the Armed forces in Manipur must be thoroughly enquired into. The Two Judge Bench comprising of Justices Madan B Lokur and Uday Umesh Lalit also held that even while dealing with the ‘enemy’ the rule of law would apply and if there have been excesses beyond the call of duty, those members of the Manipur Police or the Armed forces who have committed the excesses which do not have a reasonable connection with the performance of their official duty would be liable to be proceeded against.The Bench was considering a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India by Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association and The Human Rights Alert. The petitioners claimed to have compiled 1528 alleged extra-judicial executions carried out by the police and security forces in Manipur. It is alleged that a majority of them have been carried out in cold blood while the victims were in custody and allegedly after torturing them. Petitioners alleged that not a single First Information Report has been registered by the Manipur police against the police or the security forces even though several complaints have been made in respect of the alleged extra-judicial executions. As a result of the failure of the Manipur police to register an FIR not a single investigation or prosecution has commenced and the cries of anguish of the families of the victims have fallen on deaf ears. The petitioners alleged that the victims of the extra-judicial executions include innocent persons with no criminal record whatsoever but they are later on conveniently labelled as militants. Earlier the Court had appointed Advocate Menaka Guruswamy as Amicus Curiae.MaintainabilityAn objection was raised by the Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to the effect that in a writ petition like the present one, a prayer to order a police investigation is not maintainable. It was submitted that the procedure laid down in the Cr.P.C. is quite adequate and if there is any inaction on the part of the authorities, recourse may be had to the grievance redressal procedure laid down in the Cr.P.C. Rejecting the contention, the Bench held as follows;“This is not an ordinary case of a police complaint or a simple case of an FIR not being registered. This case involves allegations that the law enforcement authorities, that is, the Manipur Police along with the armed forces acting in aid of the civil power are themselves perpetrators of gross human rights violations. This is also not a case where the ordinary criminal law remedy provides an adequate answer. A particular situation of internal disturbance has prevailed for decades and the ordinary citizens of Manipur have had little access and recourse to law in the situation that they find themselves placed in. To make matters worse, FIRs have been registered against the victims by the local police thereby leaving the next of kin of the deceased with virtually no remedy under the Cr.P.C.” War like Situation?The principal contention of the Attorney General in opposing any investigation or inquiry into the alleged extra-judicial killings is that a war-like situation has been and is prevailing in Manipur. It is to control any escalation of the situation that vast powers have been given to the armed forces under AFSPA and the constitutionality of AFSPA has been upheld by the Constitution Bench in Naga People’s Movement of Human Rights. It is only due to the efforts of the Manipur Police and the armed forces of the Union that the security environment in Manipur has not deteriorated but has vastly improved over the years. In support of his contention that a war-like situation was and is prevailing in Manipur, the Attorney General relied on Navjot Sandhu to submit that under Section 121 of the IPC ‘war’ is not necessarily conventional warfare between two nations and even organizing and joining an insurrection against the Government of India is a form of war. Rejecting the above contention the Bench held as follows:“The submission of the learned Attorney General is nothing but a play on words and we reject it and hold that an internal disturbance is not equivalent to or akin to a war-like situation and proceed on the basis that there is no war or war-like situation in Manipur but only an internal disturbance, within the meaning of that expression in the Constitution - nothing more and nothing less. Every act of violence, even though it may be directed against the armed forces or public officials would not lead to an inference that a war is going on or that war-like conditions are prevailing. Similarly, sporadic but organized killings by militants and ambushes would not lead to a conclusion of the existence of a war or war-like conditions. Were such a blanket proposition accepted, it would reflect poorly on our armed forces that they are unable to effectively tackle a war-like...

Manipur Extra Judicial Killings: Allegation of excessive force by Police or Armed Forces must be thoroughly enquired into: SC [Read Judgment]

M.A.Rashid

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