In the middle of a debate in India about the quality of prosecution in Pakistan, a little-noticed event took place in the Supreme Court in New Delhi yesterday. Centre told the court that it would pay an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh on humanitarian grounds to the mother of Thangjam Manorama. Manorama was a 32-year-old Manipuri woman whose bullet-riddled body was found after she was picked up by security forces from her home in Imphal East on the night of July 10, 2004. Five days later, the death caught international attention when 12 elderly women stripped and held an unprecedented protest at the army command in Imphal. Two white banners the women stretched in front of them read: India Army Rape Us and Indian Army Take Our Flesh. The stunning protest had revived a debate on whether the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which shields soldiers from prosecution and imposes the burden of proof on the accused, should be repealed. The troops who shot Manorama belonged to the Assam Rifles, a paramilitary force that reports to the Union home ministry and most of the officers of which are sourced from the Indian Army. For all practical purposes, civilians on the ground see the force as an extension of the army. A decade on, the Centre has offered Rs 10 lakh without prejudicing the Centres appeal pending in the Supreme Court. Ex gratia means the payment is being done from a sense of moral obligation rather than because of any legal requirement. The court said the money should be paid in four weeks. In Manipur, Manoramas mother Khumanlei said: We do not want the money. What we want is punishment of the personnel who tortured and killed my daughter. No one has been punished even after 10 years because the Assam Rifles insists Manorama was a militant and the troops opened fire when she tried to escape while leading them to an arms cache. The announcement by the Centre - and the courts clearance of the payment - is being seen as a virtual admission that something did go wrong 10 years ago. Manoramas younger brother, Thangjam Doren, said: The ruling gives us hope that justice will finally be delivered as the payment of compensation makes it very clear it was a custodial killing. We will find peace only when the guilty are punished and the army act is repealed. However, the security establishment has challenged an independent probe that described Manoramas death as one of the most shocking custodial killings. The panel that reached such a conclusion was set up not by any human rights organisation but the Manipur government. The inquiry commission was headed by C. Upendra Singh, a retired district and sessions judge. The commission said most of the injuries indicated Manorama was shot when she was helpless. The commission had filed the report in 2004. Since there was no action, Manoramas family moved Gauhati High Court, which also covers cases in Manipur. In 2010, the high court asked the state government to act on the Upendra commission report. It is this ruling that the Centre challenged in the Supreme Court in 2011. The findings of the commission were made public only after the Union home ministry submitted the report to the Supreme Court on its directive. The Centre came out with the payment announcement after the apex court, at an earlier hearing, asked the government to pay some compensation to the family, pending disposal of the appeal. The Centre has challenged the very decision of the Manipur government to appoint the commission of inquiry. The Centre has contended that under Schedule 7 of the Constitution, states have no power to probe the conduct of the armed forces as it is in the exclusive domain of the Union government.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 07:15:00 +0000
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