IMPHAL, July 11: The Working Committee of Apunba Lup is not satisfied with the Supreme Court merely directing the Centre to pay compensation of Rs. 10 lakh to the family of Thangjam Manorama, instead of awarding punishment to the 17th Assam Rifles personnel involved in the killing of Manorama, said Coordinator of Working Committee of the Apunba Lup Phunindro Konsam today.
He was speaking at the 12th death anniversary of Thangjam Manorama organised jointly by the Thangjam Manorama Memorial Trust and Working Committee of Apunba Lup.
We will be satisfied only when those involved personnel are punished according to the law, Phunindro observed.
He said the apex-body will also initiate agitations demanding the same at the earliest.
Lamenting the prolonged imposition of the dreaded Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the state, the human rights activist said several lives have been lost, and many women been raped under the draconian Act.
The rape and brutal murder of Thangjam Manorama is one of the most heart-wrenching act committed under the shadow of AFSPA, he added.
Remembering Manorama, he said during the intervening night of July 10 and 11 in 2004, personnel of the 17 Assam Rifles posted at the time inside Kangla Fort stormed her house and forcibly picked her.
He further alleged the AR personnel of raping and that killing Manorama whose body was found the next morning along the road side at Ngariyan in Thonghaipham.
Phulindro also said the Jeevan Reddy Commission had in its report recommended scrapping the Act, which has been denied by the Centre.
He said the Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) had also filed 1528 Public Interest Litigations in the Supreme Court against extra-judicial cases in the state.
He further lauded the recent judgment of the Supreme Court on the PILs.
