IMPHAL, Jan 12 - Two Manipur-based rights bodies � Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert (HRA) � have welcomed the order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Imphal East, directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct further investigation into the Pangei killing on April 9, 2002.
The court order has brought to the fore the casual nature of the investigation carried out by the CBI into extrajudicial executions in Manipur. These investigations were carried out in pursuance of the Supreme Court judgment in EEVFAM Vs Union of India, a press release said.
In the Supreme Court judgment, the CBI was directed to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) to go through the records of the cases in which extrajudicial execution was prima facie established, lodge FIRs wherever necessary and complete the investigations by December 31, 2017 and prepare chargesheets, it said.
The release stated that in pursuance of the judgment, 39 FIRs were lodged but even more than two years after the expiry of the deadline, only 13 chargesheets and closure reports were filed.
The press release, signed by the President of EEVFAM and the Executive Director of HRA, also claimed that the killing of Asem Romajit and Yumnam Robita at Pangei Bazaar is one such case where the closure report was submitted to the CJM, Imphal East.
The families of Romajit and Robita along with EEVFAM filed a protest petition challenging the closure report and alleged that the CBI is trying to shield the accused CRPF personnel from criminal prosecution.
It also claimed that more than 70 Manipur police personnel are indicted but no charge was pressed against the Central armed forces despite having evidence of their involvement in the extrajudicial executions.
�The Pangei killing is also one such case in which the armed forces of the Union have been accused,� it alleged.
EEVFAM has so far challenged six such closure reports in different courts in Manipur. EEVFAM and HRA also expressed hope that the CBI/SIT would carry out an independent, impartial, thorough and prompt investigation in the interest of justice.
