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The Law
The
Constitution of India guarantees the right to life and personal liberty
for one and all in Article 21. It states that - no one shall be deprived
of his life or personal liberty unless by a procedure established by law.
Through the creative interpretation of this constitutional right together
with the right to equality and the right to fundamental freedom guaranteed
by the Constitution, a great deal of human rights jurisprudence was
developed by the Supreme Court of India. Over and above the Code of
Criminal Procedure, detailing the rules to be followed during arrest and
detention, the Supreme Court came out with the Arrest Memo procedure in
the famous DK Basu v/s Union of India case which means that it is
mandatory for all the arresting authorities to prepare and issue the
detailed particulars of any arrest.
The
Practice
In India,
however, the chasm between the law and practice is wide. Furthermore in a
situation like Manipur, where the perceived threat to 'national security'
had consistently overrode all human rights considerations, the gap is
simply yawning. The armed forces operating under the Armed Forces Special
Powers Act regularly flaunt these procedures. The immunity granted to the
armed forces has rendered the Rule of Law a far cry for the victims
seeking justice. Not a single perpetrator of the enforced disappearance
had ever been indicted or prosecuted for the crime. In a few cases, the
victims do get monetary compensations from the government. But as the
perpetrators go scot free their criminal acts continue unabated.
International
Campaign
In 1998, a
few cases pending in the courts were brought to the notice of the UN
Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances. On 27 September
1998, the Editor of this newsletter was granted an audience with the
Working Group and he briefed the Working Group on the general situation in
Manipur. Thereafter, the Working Group took up a few cases from Manipur.
Earlier the same year, Amnesty International brought out a report on the
disappearance of a school boy in Manipur entitled Silencing of the
Youth (AI/ASA20/005/1998).
In its
report to the fifty-fifth session of the UN Commission on Human Rights,
the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances contained
in UN document E/CN.4/1999/62 stated as follows:
153. In
Manipur, a state in the north-eastern region of India, it has been
alleged that there is routine denial of a range of human rights,
particularly those of a growing number of children in the context of
armed conflict, where impunity is said to prevail. Grave concern has
been expressed about attempts by the armed forces to prevent judicial
inquiries ordered by the State government into the disappearance of a 15
year old school boy, Yumlembam Sanamacha, who was reportedly arrested by
members of the 17 Rajputana Rifles on 12 February 1998. Allegedly, in
many a cases of disappearance, the army has taken shelter behind the
Armed Forces (Assam and Manipur) Special Powers Act of 1958, which, it
is said, confers on the armed forces broadly defined shoot-to-kill
powers and provides them with virtual immunity from prosecution.
154.
...In the case of the disappearance of the 15 year old school boy from
Manipur, the Government replied that he had been apprehended by the
security forces during a search operation on suspicion of belonging to a
terrorist organisation, the United National Liberation Front, and had
managed to escape when the security forces, who were taking him to be
handed over to the police, had been attacked by members of 'Meira Paibis'
a women's organisation, seeking to effect the release of the persons
apprehended. The Government also stated that a case had been filed with
the Imphal Bench of Gauhati High Court regarding the alleged
disappearance and a counter affidavit had been filed by the Army.
In
1999, the WITNESS program of the Lawyers Committee of Human Rights
produced a short video film on the same boy entitled Sanamacha's Story.
The video film was screened before the UN Working Group in New York in May
1999. The video is now available in the internet at http://www.witness.org.
In
solidarity with the families of the victims in other parts of Asia, on
September 1999, Human Rights Alert (HRA) contributed a paper entitled Involuntary
Disappearances and the Struggle for Justice in Manipur at the Seminar
on the International Phenomena of Involuntary Disappearances organised by
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) at Sri Lanka.
The representative of HRA could not however be physically present at the
seminar as the Sri Lankan Government did not give him visa clearance.
With
efforts from Amnesty International, thousands of letters and cards
expressing hope and sympathy from all over the world flooded the parents
of Yumlembam Sanamacha, during the Christmas and New Year season.
Association
of Families
On 12 February 1999, a
simple function was organized to mark the day on which Sanamacha was
arrested, at his school in Angtha village in Thoubal District. At the
initiative of Human Rights Alert, the families of the other victims of
disappearance were also invited at the function and an Adhoc Committee of
the Families of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances was formed. One
year later on 12 February 2000 the adhoc committee was rechristened as the
Committee of the Families of Enforced Disappearances (COFED),
Manipur. The initiative to consolidate and organise the families is
finally on.
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