New Delhi: In a landmark judgement protecting human rights, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered a CBI probe into 98 fake encounter killings in Manipur during the last decade and described the NHRC as a “toothless tiger” for its failure to check the alleged violations.
The court dismissed attempts by the Army and the state government to seek internal probes into the incidents that took place between 2000 and 2012. The state was declared a “disturbed areas” under the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act during this period.
A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Uday Lalit passed the order on a petition filed by Extra Judicial Execution Victim Families Association (Eevfam), seeking a probe into 1,528 alleged fake encounter deaths.
The bench asked CBI director to nominate a group of five officers to go through the records of the cases, lodge necessary FIRs and complete investigations by December 31.
“Undoubtedly, the protection and preservation of human rights is one of the most important aspects of the rule of law,” it said.
On the contention that court should not order a probe when the families of the deceased had not complained and come to the court, the bench said “access to justice is certainly a human right and it has been given a special place in our constitutional scheme where free legal aid and advice is provided to people”.
The apex court dismissed pleas for not reopening old cases and said, “If a crime has been committed, which involves the death of a person, who is possibly innocent, it cannot be overlooked only because of a lapse of time.”
