SC sets up CBI SIT to probe Manipur fake encounters

New Delhi, July 14

Advertisement

In a first, the Supreme Court today set up a special investigating team (SIT) of five CBI officers and ordered registration of an FIR and a probe into the extra-judicial killings and fake encounters by the Army, Assam Rifles and police in insurgency-hit Manipur.

(Follow ; and )

The apex court directed the CBI director to nominate a team within two weeks, which will lodge FIRs and complete the investigation by December 31.

Calling upon states to adhere to the NHRC guidelines, the Bench said “it is not as if the dignity of only living persons needs to be respected, even the dignity of the dead must be given due respect”.

The court, which is hearing a PIL for a probe into 1,528 extra-judicial killings, ordered registration of FIRs in 81 cases, including 32 cases probed by a Commission of Inquiry, 32 cases investigated by judicial inquiries and high courts, 11 cases in which compensation has been awarded by NHRC and six cases probed by the commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Santosh Hegde.

On July 8 last year, the apex court had said the situation in Manipur has “never been one of war” and killing of citizens on suspicion that they are the “enemy” gravely endangers democracy. It had held that the use of “excessive force” by the armed forces or police was not permissible in ‘disturbed areas’ under the draconian AFSPA.

The apex court, which had directed a thorough probe into the alleged fake encounter killings, maintained that inquest was needed to “know the truth” in Manipur. — PTI