IMPHAL, September 16: In a judgment delivered by the High Court of Manipur at Imphal on September 15 in the case of Garamjan Bibi vs The State of Manipur and five others (W.P. (Cril) No 49 of 2009), the Court ordered for the joint payment of Rs. 5 lakhs as compensation to the petitioner by the State of Manipur and the Assam Rifles within a period of 4 months, said a press release by Human Rights Law Network (HRLN).
According to the press release, the 12-year-old son of the petitioner, Md Azad Khan, a class VII student of Phoubakchao High School, was brutally murdered by the combined force of Manipur Police commandos and Indian Army on March 4, 2009 at around 11:50 a.m. in front of his family members on the false pretext that Md Azad khan was an underground activist.
It said, Md Azad Khan was reading newspaper with his neighbouring friend Kiyam Anand Singh, a 14 years old boy, at the verandah of their house when some personnel of the Manipur Police commandos rushed into their house and apprehended Md Azad Khan and was beaten severely, followed by questioning Kiyam Anand Singh and slapping him.
The commandos dragged Md Azad Khan to a paddy field and the petitioner and her family members were forcefully prevented to follow Md Azad Khan, and later the commandos shot him dead and implanted a pistol near the dead body, said the press release.
It said, on the same day, Md Ashraf Ali lodged a written complaint with the OC of Mayang Imphal Police Station in connection with the incident but the OC refused to register any case based on the written complaint.
Meanwhile, Th. Bronson Thanga, Havildar of CDO, Thoubal Unit falsely stated of receiving a reliable information about some underground activists of the People United Liberation Front (PULF) loitering at Phoubakchao and Sekmaijing area to carry out subversive activities and also to attack security forces, and thereafter created a fake story of cross firing with two youths moving hastily towards the side of Paddy field, in which one armed cadre was shot death and the other escaped, with recovery of one 9 mm pistol with 3 live rounds, said the press release.
It said, by an order on June 15, 2009, the High Court of Manipur directed the District Judge, Manipur West to make an enquiry about the disputed fact relating to the death of Md Azad Khan and to submit its report and pursuant to the direction of the court, the District Judge, Manipur West, submitted its report on July 31, 2012, and eventually it was concluded that Md Azad Khan was shot and killed by the police commando personnel and the pistol near the dead body was implanted.
In the press release, HRLN has stated that the case is one of the 1528 fake encounter cases being taken up by the Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association in association with the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) at the Supreme Court of India in Writ Petition (Crl.) 129 of 2012 which is still pending before the Supreme court of India and has been put up for hearing on October 14, 2014.
Meihoubam Rakesh, Advocate appeared on behalf of the Petitioner and the Writ Petition has been filed with the active initiation of HRLN, Manipur, said the press release.