SC wants officers named in FIR in Manipur fake encounters

A bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice UU Lalit asked the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to file the supplementary FIR in the existing FIRs which will include the name of officers or commanding officers of the units, and told the NHRC to also assist the team.

The top court said the judicial inquiries and the Gauhati High Court’s findings have named the commanding officer of the unit of the Assam battalion (involved in the alleged shooting) or the officer who shot “but these personnel have not been named in the FIR”.

The SIT should file a supplementary FIR naming the personnel involved, it said.

The court was hearing a PIL seeking a probe into as many as 1,528 cases of extra-judicial killings in Manipur.

The court’s direction came after advocate Menaka Guruswamy, the amicus curiae assisting the court in the matter, said that 11 FIRs were registered in March but none named any Army, Assam rifle or Manipur police personnel despite their being specifically named in the judicial inquiries’ reports and the high court’s findings.

These 11 FIRs were registered on the basis of judicial inquiries and cases in which the Gauhati High Court had given its findings.

Taking note of the submissions of Guruswamy that FIRs were registered against “unknown personnel”, the bench said that going by the records of the judicial inquiries, the high court’s order and witnesses “there is not just the name of offending unit but also the officer under whose command it was done”.

“The fact of the matter is he (officer) shot. He is the man who shot and accepted it. You know the commander of the unit, you also know the man in question. But it’s not in the FIR,” the bench told Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, appearing for the SIT.

The apex court said if the SIT doesn’t name the personnel in the FIR, “who are you going to question tomorrow”? (IANS)