INDIA: Burgeoning Violence in Manipur

Dear Friends,

The AHRC has received information about deepening cycles of violence in Manipur. A 12-year-old boy, Bishal, has been subjected to torture by the Kuki Revolutionary Front (KRF), a militant group based in Manipur. KRF suspected Bishal to be the member of Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), another Valley-based insurgent group. This act of torture has led to increased communalist antagonism between different tribes in Manipur agitating against each other. While tribal militia engage to mark territory, angry agitators have been assaulting those belonging to the rival clans; one death has reported in one such recent mob assault. The Manipur police, for their part, are employing themselves kill innocent civilians. In a recent incident, the police shot dead a Class XII student on his way back from a picnic with his friends. The friends of the slain boy were first remanded in custody but have since been released as there is no evidence against them. The prevalence of state sponsored injustice, rather than the rule of law, has created anarchy in Manipur. And, although the Armed Forces (Special) Powers Act remains enacted in Manipur, the Army is doing nothing to neutralise the situation; rather, it too is only adding more fuel to the fire. 

CASE NARRATIVE:

On Sunday, 10 May 2015, three boys – Konthoujam Bishal, Moirangthem Dayananda, and Maibam Premananda) were kidnapped by members of a militant group known as Kuki Revolutionary Front (KRF), who suspected the boys to be members of Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), another insurgent group based in the Valley. The kidnapping took place at Maipou Village under the Saparmeina Police Station of Senapati District, Manipur. All three were brutally tortured; two were killed, their bodies buried; of the three, Bishal survived.

Bishal is 12-years-old and studying in class VI in Negi Home Academy, a residential school at Mapao Khullen Village. He was tortured viscously; the militants sliced open both his legs and one of his ears. His captors covered his face with a cloth and poured water on his face. According to Bishal’s statement, all three boys were forced to confess membership to KCP.

United NGOs Mission Manipur, a human rights organization working in Manipur, visited the Village on 15 May 2015, where members of the team met the school principal and 5 teachers of the Negi Home Academy. According to their statement, the two boys killed were working as laborers in school construction for the last 15 days. They are understood to have been ordinary civilians. Another team of United NGOs Mission Manipur visited the families of the victims. According to the parents of Bishal, as well as the local women’s society and the youth club, the boys killed were civilians, working as daily wage earners to help their poor families. 

On 14 May 2015, the Village of the Imphal West District, under the Patsoi and Lamsang Police Station, began a protest against the killing of civilians by the Kuki Revolutionary Front (KRF). The agitation became extremely violent. The agitators mostly belonging to the Maitei tribe began torturing civilians belonging to the tribal community of the Tadou/Kuki clan. The angry agitators burned down 4 vehicles and destroyed others.

On 15 May, the agitators caught four Kuki boys who were travelling in a truck. All four of them were beaten up terribly by the angry agitators. The driver of the truck, Mr. Sengam Haokip, died and three others have been critically injured. According to information received by the AHRC, most of the agitators were under the influence of the alcohol. Although a large number of security personnel, including a battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, were deployed at Langjing, the site of the agitation, the mob could not be controlled. 

On 17 May, police commandos along the Imphal-Ukhrul Road shot dead Konsam Korounganba, injuring two of his friends who were rushed to the hospital and arrested the other two friends. Konsam Kourounganba was a class XII student of N.G. Mani Higher Secondary School in Manipur. The incident happened when a group of eight friends were returning from a picnic at Selheipung Garden. On their way back home, a police team at Lamlai Police Station stopped them at around 6 p.m. for frisking and checking. 

The youths got petrified with the way the police were behaving with them. The eight youths including the deceased, who were travelling in the same car, refused to stop when asked by the police, due to the fear of being assaulted and sped away from the place, heading in the direction of Imphal. A team of police chased the car for around an hour. The youth then drove towards Sagolmang, Pangei, Waiton, and later headed toward Sajiwa Jail, after which a team of police commandoes also tried to make the youth stop. Again, the youth refused to stop and sped away. 

In their attempt to stop the car, the police opened fire at the car at Kangla Sangomsang Approach Road. During the shooting, four of the youths fled the scene; one of the boys received a bullet injury to his throat and shattering glass injured another youth. The two were rushed to Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) Hospital for treatment. Two of the uninjured youths have been arrested and identified as Chandam Premananda and Chabungbam Manoj Singh; they were remanded in custody but have since been released due to lack of evidence. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The KRF has come to an agreement with the Government of India and the Manipur State Government to cease militant activities in the state under Suspension of Operation (SoO). Under this agreement, the group has handed over all their arms to the care of the Assam Rifles, a paramilitary force of the Indian Army. 

However, the KRF still have access to their arms, which they are using to assault local people, and this has raised a lot of questions about the accountability of the Assam Rifles, who are supposed to have secured those arms from the militants during the signing of the SoO. 

There is an understanding on the ground that Assam Rifles are involved in the ongoing violence in Manipur. The Assam Rifles camp is less than 150 meters away from the KRF camp, and it is believed this proximity assists the KRF to gain access to the arms that have been used to assault the local people.

Over time, it is become clear that the Indian Government or the Indian Army, as part of a political strategy to sustain the balance of power in the state of Manipur, has been manipulating most of the militants and common people. 

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the authorities listed below, asking them to investigate the sources of the violence taking place in Manipur, and to help in the maintainence of peace, the ending of riots, and the compensation of affected families. The authorities must identify the people responsible for this chaos and bring them to book.

The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment requesting him to intervene in this matter.

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