IMPHAL, June 17 - Manipur Government has finally decided to pay compensation to the next of kin of 28 victims of extra-judicial killings in the State between 1997 and 2012.
The government has sanctioned Rs 1.54 crore for payment of compensation to the victims� families, a report said here today. The order is in compliance with the recommendations of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and in compliance with an order of Supreme Court dated April 22 last.
Rs 5.50 lakh will be given to each family of the victims who were killed in last 20 years.
Manipur-based Extra-judicial Execution Victim Families Association (EEVFAM) had filed two writ petitions before the apex court under Article 32 of the Constitution stating that a total of 1,528 people died in extra-judicial killings by armed forces and State police in Manipur between 1997 and 2012.
Earlier, a Supreme Court-appointed high-power commission, headed by retired SC judge Santosh Hegde, probing six cases of alleged extra-judicial killings in Manipur, had found that these were not genuine encounters and the victims did not have any criminal records.
In 2012, the Supreme Court took serious note of the PIL by NGOs EEVFAM and Human Rights Alert and issued notices to the Centre and Manipur Government to file their responses by November 5 that year.
