Govt orders probe into Manipur encounter

The situation in Manipur,particularly in Imphal,remained tense with normal life being crippled owing to a 48-hour general strike called by Apunba Lup....

The situation in Manipur,particularly in Imphal,remained tense with normal life being crippled owing to a 48-hour general strike called by Apunba Lup,an umbrella body of over 30 different civil society organisations,over the death of a youth in an alleged fake encounter on July 23. The incident generated more heat as a pregnant woman too was later said to have been killed in the same encounter.

While the incident had almost passed off as a routine encounter that Manipur is used to,it began flaring up after a weekly from New Delhi carried a series of photographs apparently showing the sequence of the encounter. One of the photographs apparently showed police commandos taking the youth inside a pharmacy in Imphal,another showed them bringing his blood-soaked lifeless body out.

The youth,one Chungkham Sanjit,incidentally,is a former militant,having been a member of the outlawed Peoples Liberation Army PLA,which he had reportedly quit a few years ago. The pregnant woman who was killed was later identified as one Rabina Devi 23.

The official version of the story is that Sanjit was killed in an encounter after he opened indiscriminate fire in the Khwairamband Bazar area of Imphal. A statement issued by Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh in the Assembly last week had stated that a pregnant woman too was killed in the shootout.

But even as protests grew,especially after the publication of photographs,which apparently contradicted the government version and established it as a fake encounter,the government announced a magisterial inquiry into the incidents. While organisations under the banner of Apunba Lup which means Thirty Organisations took out protests,a 48-hour general strike that began since midnight has disrupted normal life,especially in the valley districts of the state. The Apunba Lup as well as opposition parties like the Manipur Peoples Party MPP,BJP and the NCP instead demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Meanwhile,Manipur Director-General of Police Yumnam Joykumar Singh said the situation was peaceful and under control despite the 48-hour general strike. Number of vehicles on the road is definitely low. But inter-state buses did leave Imphal in the morning,and all scheduled flights to and fro Imphal operated on time, the DGP told The Indian Express over the telephone from Imphal.