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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Battle for justice reaches Geneva-Khelen Thokchom

Battle for justice reaches Geneva-Khelen Thokchom

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published Published on Jun 1, 2013   modified Modified on Jun 1, 2013
-The Telegraph


Imphal: A Manipuri widow's cry for justice rang out during the 23rd session of the UN Human Rights Council this morning, as she questioned gaps in UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns's report on the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.

Neena Ningobam, who represented the Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families' Association, Manipur, of which she is the secretary, and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) at the session in Geneva today, spoke about extra-judicial executions in India and South Asia in context of the report filed by Heyns to the council.

This was stated in a joint release issued by the two organisations from Hong Kong today.

While the resource centre is an independent regional NGO holding general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN, the victims' association is a Manipur-based organisation, comprising primarily of members who had lost near and dear ones to fake encounters by security forces.

Heyns, who had visited India in March, stated in his report, released early this month, that the army act ran counter to the principles of democracy and human rights and its repeal would bring domestic law more in line with international standards.

Speaking to the council today, Neena said, "The Constitution of India guarantees the right to life and fair trial of all citizens. Yet, today I am a widow, having lost my husband to state agencies."

She said after murdering her husband, the government had branded him a terrorist and denied her all state welfare schemes for widows.

Terming the charge baseless, she said she had fought an uphill legal battle for four years to clear her husband's name.

"Today I stand along with thousands of widows, whose loved ones were extra-judicially executed, particularly in the Northeast and Kashmir of India, where, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 is in operation," she said.

She told the council that following a petition seeking inquiry into 1,528 such cases the Supreme Court had appointed a high-power commission to look into the same. "Unfortunately, the commission's report was not made available to the petitioners and the public. We sincerely hope that the court will release the report, the contents of which we are entitled to as the petitioners in the case, in furtherance of the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions," she said.

Regarding the rapporteur's report, she asked why had it not touched upon the defective mechanism of investigating criminal cases in India and inability of the investigating agencies to undertake credible and prompt investigations. "Was the rapporteur informed by the government that the proper conduct of autopsies in cases of unlawful killings is impossible due to the lack of facilities in most government hospitals in the country?" she asked.

She also asked whether the rapporteur envisaged follow-up action with the government of India to ensure that his report to the council was positively acted upon, failing which, many widows who were in the pursuit of justice would never receive it.

"I am aware that similar conditions exist in other South Asian states, where victims of extra-judicial executions are systematically denied justice, and the governments in these countries refuse to admit that extra-judicial execution negates the fundamental premises of fair trial guarantees. Has the rapporteur taken initiatives to address these?" she asked.


The Telegraph, 31 May, 2013, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130601/jsp/frontpage/story_16958145.jsp#.Ual3Vdjcjco


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