‘‘Upholding Victims’ Rights Difficult with AFSPA in Force’’: Sanjoy Hazarika

‘‘Upholding Victims’ Rights Difficult with AFSPA in Force’’: Sanjoy Hazarika
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New Delhi: Renewing calls for scrapping the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that gives immunity to the military from prosecution for actions in disturbed areas, human rights activists have said that upholding the rights and interests of victims is difficult in places where such “archaic” laws are in force. “In an environment of impunity and intimidation fostered by archaic laws such as AFSPA, truth-seeking and truth-telling is very difficult as is upholding the rights and the interests of the victims,” said Sanjoy Hazarika, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), a non-governmental organization headquartered in New Delhi.

“These laws defy logic and need to go,” said Hazarika, author of “Strangers Of The Mist: Tales of War and Peace from India’s Northeast”. Hazarika was speaking at a consultation on “Potential Transitional Justice Framework for Manipur” organized by the Centre for Human Rights Studies (CHRS) and the Centre for the Study of Knowledge Systems of Jindal Global Law School (JGLS), O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) on December 1 here.

Transitional justice consists of both judicial and non-judicial processes and mechanisms, including prosecution initiatives, truth-seeking, reparations programmes, institutional reform or an appropriate combination thereof, according to the United Nations. Panellists deliberated on factors which lead to the erosion of accountability in relation to human rights violations perpetrated by the security forces and insurgent groups in the region. At the centre of the discussion was an investigation into as many as 1,528 alleged cases of extra-judicial killings in Manipur.

The Supreme Court last year set up a Special Investigation Team comprising CBI officers and ordered registration of FIRs and investigation into the alleged extra-judicial killings in the northeastern state. The investigation followed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed jointly by Imphal-based Extra Judicial Execution Victims’ Families Manipur (EEVFAM) and Human Rights Alert.

Speaking on the occasion, W.A.Shishak, former Chief Justice, High Court of Chhattisgarh and former Chairperson, Manipur State Human Rights Commission, stressed on the need for appointment of people with honesty, integrity and impeccable character to strengthen the Manipur State Human Rights Commission in order to address human rights violations. “Torture, disappearances and extra-judicial killings are very serious human rights violations and each such allegation must be thoroughly investigated and justice is provided to victims or to their next of kin,” said Y.S.R. Murthy, Executive Director, Centre for Human Rights Studies, JGU. (IANS)

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