With the advent of the insurgency from the late 1960s, the people of Manipur have been facing several forms of human rights violation at the hands of the security forces deployed under the assured impunity offered by Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.In April 2006, Union Minister of State for Defence, MM Pallam Raju, stated that the army had been maintaining a zero tolerance policy on human rights violations in Manipur. Yet, the armed forces continue to carry out arbitrary arrests, torture and extra judicial killings with impunity under the garb of fighting insurgency. On December 2, 2006, the prime minister of India, during his visit to Imphal stated that the government was considering amendments to the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 to make it humane. But the union government has failed to implement the recommendations of the committee to review the Act under chairmanship of Justice Jeevan Reddy which recommended repeal of the Act, among other things, through its final report submitted in June 2005.

In the name of combating insurgency, the security forces occupied many tourist homes, village schools and even places of worship. The security forces compelled villagers to work in their camp without paying anything. Most of the inter-village roads were barricaded for search operations and frisking of people. They also asked villagers to carry identity card to be issued by the village authority and those who defied such instructions were beaten up. In other words, most of the villagers have been living under constant threat and fear intimidation by security forces whose ostensible task is to protect them.

There were several instances of the killing of innocent people by the security forces merely on suspicion of being insurgents. The security forces never admitted these killings and have instead lodged false FIRs with the local police, saying that the said individuals were killed in encounters. At the same time if members of security forces are ambushed by militants, the forces resort to large scale torture against the villagers inhabiting the area around the spot of incident.

Human rights organisations have been documenting such incidents for many years and also filed cases in the Guwahati High Court on behalf of the victims. In one such case, Pheiroijam Sanajit was picked up from his house in the wee hours of May 31, 2004 by Indian army personnel and subsequently killed in a fake encounter. Thereafter the army lodged a false report with the Sekmai Police Station stating that he was killed in an encounter. In another case, one Thokchom Doren Singh alias Naba Singh was apprehended from his wife's house by personnel of Assam Rifles on June 6, 2004 and killed in a stage-managed encounter. Further one college boy, Khundrakpam Tejkumar Singh, aged about 22 years was brutally tortured and killed by the personnel of 19 Assam Rifles stationed at Yaingangpokpi post after arresting him on March 9, 2004 from his locality. He had no criminal antecedent or nexus with any unlawful organisation.

Whenever a victim's family approaches the High Court, the security forces try to persuade them to withdraw the petition by using one tactic or the other. In some instances, families have succumbed to the pressure tactics of the security forces.

In one incident of mass torture of innocent villagers by the security forces just after they were attacked by some unknown militants, a Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Guwahati High Court. The incident happened on September 30, 2007 at Umathel Village where at around 10.30 pm an encounter ensued between PREPAK (a proscribed organisation) cadres on the one hand and the personnel of 21 Assam Rifles on the other near a roadside bus shelter in front of the Kakching Khunou College at Umathel Village, Thoubal District, Manipur. In the said encounter it is reported that there were casualties on both sides. At least one personnel was killed while another sustained injuries on his right hand and ear.

In the aftermath of the incident, additional forces of the Assam Rifles rushed to the spot and conducted search operations in the area. During the operation, all the men of Umathel village and its adjoining villages were called out to the premises of Kakching Khunou College and they were made to lie on the ground and then beaten up by the Assam Rifles personnel. Most of victims of Assam Rifle's torture were taken to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Hospital, Lamphelpat, the Jawaharlal Nehru (JN) Hospital, Porompat and also to various private hospitals in Imphal.

The villagers reported that they had heard exchange of fire near their village at around 9.30 pm on Sunday, September 30, 2007. An hour or so later, the personnel of 21 Assam Rifles, in full combat gear, landed up at their village and started knocking violently on their doors, asking all the male members to come out. The Assam Rifles personnel then made them squat and hold their ears by looping their arms between the legs and began to thrash them with sticks and rifle butts.

The victims further stated that the Assam Rifles personnel asked them many irrelevant questions and charged them with harbouring militants in their village. The Assam Rifles Personnel did not permit the villagers to even stand up till around 7.30 a.m. It was only when the police arrived that the villagers were allowed to get up and move to another place for verification. The villagers were not allowed to return to their houses. They are now scared to return to their village, fearing that the Assam Rifles may return and harass them further.

A woman shopkeeper of Umathel Bazar said that the Assam Rifles personnel ransacked her shop and took away expensive cigarettes and eatables. But that morning, the AR personnel came again and forced her family members to repair the damaged shop. No one was allowed to go out from their houses and any person who was seen outside, including auto rickshaw and bus drivers were beaten up indiscriminately.

In this unjustified torture and ill-treatment of innocent villagers of Umathel Village, as many as 52 men are reported to have sustained injuries. About 30 of them, including a seriously injured victim, were hospitalized at RIMS Hospital. Among the torture victims were a college lecturer named Bijoy Singh, 42, and a veterinary doctor named Rajendro Singh. The villagers were detained till around 8 a.m. of the next day, October 1, 2007. Thereafter they were released. However, they continue to live in fear of a possible re-visit by the Assam Rifles personnel. As a result many of them had left their homes to take shelter in the homes of relatives in neighboring villages. These villagers are not only terror stricken, but have also been displaced from their homes and are not in a position to raise their voice against the unjustifiable excesses of the Assam Rifles in the aftermath of the encounter.

Subsequently, the High Court directed that a fact-finding inquiry be instituted by the Director General of Police, Manipur or his subordinate police officer. When the said police officer issued summons to the torture victims for recording their statements, they did not turn up due to the fear psychosis created by the security forces. When media persons from Imphal went to Umathel to find out why victims were unwilling to give their statements, they discovered that fear of reprisals by Assam Rifles was the key factor. Talking to media persons on condition of anonymity, a 30-year old victim who works in a private school and has a young daughter to look after, said although he wants to come out and give his statement about the incident, he is apprehensive of its consequences for his family. 'I never know when the security personnel will come and knock at my door. So I cannot speak the truth against the security forces,' he said.

—The writer is a human rights activist and a lawyer based in Imphal

© Combat Law Publications Pvt Ltd