Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert (HRA) on Tuesday applauded the order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal East (CJM) issuing summon to the 13 personnel of the 19th Assam Rifles (AR) allegedly accused in murder of Pheiroijam Keshorjit.
The accused allegedly shot dead Keshornit on the morning of June 21, 2005 at Seijang-Sailent, after arresting him on the previous evening from Sabungkhok Khunou in Manipur, stated a joint release by EEVFAM Secretary, Edina Yaikhom and HRA Executive Director, Babloo Loitongbam.
Keshorjit’s case is one of the 39 incidents investigated by the Special Investigation Team of the CBI out of the 1528 cases of extrajudicial execution submitted to the Supreme Court of India by EEVFAM and HRA in WP(Cril.) 129 of 2012 (EEVFAM v/s UoI), it stated.
It stated that on completion of the investigation, the CBI submitted the Final Report (FR) to the CJM in 2021, which clearly established that the 13 named AR personnel in pursuance of criminal conspiracy and common intention illegally detained and shot Keshorjit dead.
It mentioned that the FR also stated that the Central Government has denied prosecution sanction in respect of the 13 Accused under section 6 of AFSPA. It maintained that EEVFAM filed a Protest Petition (Cril. Mis. Case No. 8/2022) praying the CJM to take cognisance against the accused persons.
It added that the CJM, vide its order dated October 30, 2024, took cognisance against the 13 accused personnel of AR, ruling that ‘the requirement of taking prosecution sanction under section 6 of the AFSPA does not arise, and certainly not an impediment in initiating criminal proceedings against the Accused’, thereby summoning the 3 Accused to appear before the court on November 25, 2024.
Drawing from the Supreme Court judgment on Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights v/s Union of India the order stated that ‘mere declaration of disturbed area does not give a carte blanche to the armed forces operating in the disturbed area’, it stated.
It pointed out that the order also stated ‘...by any stretch of imagination, official duty cannot be protracted to include causing illegal confinement and murder of a person (as investigation of the CBI have revealed).’
EEVFAM and HRA sees this order as significant in the light of the fact that denial of prosecution sanction is blocking all the prosecution of the armed forces personnel against whom prosecutable evidence adduced of committing serious human rights violations in Manipur and elsewhere, it maintained.
It further mentioned that the UN Human Rights Committee (Committee) in July had also recommended the Government of India (GoI), while examining the 4th periodic review of the India under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to abolish the requirement of mandatory prior authorization of the government for the prosecution of members of the security and armed forces (UN document no. CCPR/C/IND/CO/4 dated July 25, 2024, paragraph 29 and 30).
