98 fake encounter cases involve children as victims

IMPHAL, March 2: There are 1524 reported cases of fake encounters in Manipur pending in the Supreme Court, among which, 98 cases involved children below the age of 18, said president of the Manipur Alliance for Child Rights, K Pradeep Singh today addressing a one day consultation on “United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1985.”

He further identified some of the child victims as Khoisnam Singhajit, 10 from Singjamei Makha Liwa Road; Kishankumar Sharma, 10, from Mandok Leikai Churachanpur; Master Raichuilung, 6 from Nugleiban village; Sadokpam Lakhikanta Singh, 13 from Mongsangei Arubam Leikai, etc.

The convention was held at the Kachikhul Community Hall, Imphal West organized by the Village Women Co-ordinating Committee (VWCOC), North East Dialogue Forum (NEDF), United NGO Mission Manipur (UNM-M), Kachikhul Women Development Association (KWDA), other women societies and youth clubs. 

In 2004 at Kangla, during his visit to the state capital, the country’s Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had promised the people of the state that AFSPA will be replaced by a more favourable Act, Pradeep said.

“However, he is yet to fulfil his promise.”

President of Women Action for Development, Sobita Mangsatabam said in the Governor’s speech during the opening day of the ongoing 7th session of the 10th Manipur Legislative Assembly, Manipur Governor VK Duggal had observed that there are 60 insurgency groups in the state.

Citing that the number of insurgent groups in the state had increased only after the imposition of the act, she said AFSPA was imposed in Nagaland to control the NSCN, and a few years later it was imposed in the state.

At the time of the Act’s imposition in the state, there were only a few insurgency groups in the state, however, the numbers had increased only thereafter, she said questioning the need for the imposition of the Act in the state.

During the convention several testimonies on the impact of the dreaded AFSPA were also placed.

Kh Dilip Kumar a participant expressed that his brother Ajit Kumar was slain during a fake encounter by a team of Assam Rifles on February 14, 2004.