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Manipur has
been a theatre of low-intensity armed conflicts for the past few decades. At the
root of the conflict, inter alia, is the issue of its political status
after 1949.
Manipur's independence was restored in August 1947 with the departure of
British. A constitutional monarchy was establised under the Manipur State
Constitution Act, 1947 and elections on the basis of universal adult franchise
and the secret ballot were held in 1948.
However, Manipur became a part of India when the Maharaja of Manipur was forced
to sign the controversial Manipur Merger Agreement in 1949. The elected
legislative assembly was dissolved, and the Council of Ministers disbanded.
Direct rule from Delhi followed.
Manipuri nationalist groups rejected the controversial merger and began an
insurgency movement. The Government, in response outlawed the groups and sent in
a large number of army and central paramilitary forces, who were again vested
with special powers. Armed conflict ensued. With time, the intensity of the
conflict is increasing.
International Standard
The Declaration on the Protection
of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict proclaimed by the General
Assembly [resolution 3318 (XXXIX)] on 14 December 1974 clearly sets out the
international standard for the protection of women and children in emergency and
armed conflict. The relevant parts of the declaration is as follows:
4. All efforts shall
be made by States involved in armed conflicts, military operations in foreign
territories or military operations in territories still under colonial
domination to spare women and children from the ravages of war. All the
necessary steps shall be taken to ensure the prohibition of measures such as
persecution, torture, punitive measures, degrading treatment and violence,
particularly against that part of the civilian population that consist of
women and children.
5.All forms of repression and cruel and inhumane treatment
of women and children, including imprisonment, torture, shooting, mass
arrests, collective punishment, destruction of dwelling and forcible eviction,
committed by belligerent forces in the course of military operations or in
occupied territories shall be considered criminal.
6.Women and children belonging to the civilian population
and find themselves in circumstances of emergency and armed conflict in the
struggle for peace, self-determination, national liberation and independence,
or who live in occupied territories, shall not be deprived of shelter, food,
medicinal aid or other
inalienable rights, in accordance with the provisions of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
the Declaration of the Rights of the Child or other instruments of
international law.
Violations in
Manipur
In the course of the ongoing armed conflict in Manipur, the security forces have
been routinely violating the human rights standards laid down by the
international instruments. The resulting human rights violation is both due to
the abuse of power by the soldiers operating in the field as well as by the
Government at policy level which facilitates a legal and institutional framework
wherein the soldiers can operate with impunity.
The Special Laws
The Government has empowered itself with extraordinary powers to deal with the
insurgency in Manipur. Some of the special laws applied in Manipur are as
follows:
1. The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA)
empowers the armed forces of the union (army and paramilitary) to arrest,
search and even kill civilians on suspicion and provide impunity from legal
action unless prior sanction is obtained from the Union government. (Please
see the Inaugural Issue of Manipur Update December 1999 for a detailed
discussion on the Act)
2. The Punjab Security of State Act, 1953 (PSSA)
under section 10(1), the Government can impose collective fines to the
civilian population.
3. The National Security Act, 1980 (NSA) which
empower the executive to detain suspected insurgents for a long time without
producing them before the law court.
The Practice
In this prolonged armed conflict, women and children have been especially
vulnerable to state repression. Besides exposing them to the ravages of internal
armed conflict, they have been subjected to physical and mental torture,
degrading treatment, sexual abuse, arbitrary detention, harrashment and
extrajudicial killings.
It has become a common practice among the security forces (including the
police), engaging in counter insurgency operations, to do away with the
safeguards accorded to a woman by the Criminal Procedure Code while dealing with 'suspects'. Arrest
by male security personnel, interrogation in army camps and police stations,
torture and sexual abuse (including rape) by male security personnel in custody
has become routine.
Two sisters Laishram Bimola (32 years) and Laishram Manishang (29 years) of
Pukhao Ahallup Awang Leikai, Imphal East were picked up by CRPF (a paramilitary
force of the Union Government) on 14 January 1999 at around 11.00 am, on charges
of giving shelter to the underground activists. The all-male team of CRPF took
the sisters to their camp at Pangei, stripped them naked and inhumanely beat
them with iron rods and sticks on their hips, buttocks, thighs, calves and feet.
They were released at 7.30 pm. on the same day as nothing incriminating was
found against them.
The sisters were hospitalised for the next two weeks. A case was filed in the
Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) which was in turn referred to the
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Nothing was heard on the case
thereafter. This is just one of the many incidents of gross violation of human
rights.
The Meira Paibi women, who are at the vanguard for the protection of the
innocent people against the excesses of the security forces, are themselves
becoming the targets of abuse by security forces, for their human rights work.
On the wee hours of 27 February 1999, heavily armed army troops severely beat up
the Meira Paibis of Khoijuman village in Bishenpur District, seriously
injuring Laishram Manimacha (60 years), Thiyam Chaobi (70 years), Naorem Yaima
(70 years), Thiyam Gambhini (70 years), Chingsubam Memcha (40 years), Thangjam
Moithap (25 years), Wahengbam Memcha (25 years) and Soibam Sumita (25 years).
Their only Ôcrime' was that they demanded the identities of the Army personnel
who came to arrest one Mr. Budhi Singh from their locality.
Two weeks later, at Toubul, a few kilometres from Khoijuman, troops of 32
Rashtriya Rifles shoot at the Meira Paibis injuring Thiyam Mangileima (40
years), Thiyam Ibema (24 years), Soibam Somibala (24 years). The issue this time
was that the Meira Paibis confronted the army when they tried to arrest a
person without issuing an arrest memo, which is a mandatory requirement
under the law. Thiyam Mangileima is permanently disabled today due to the bullet
injury on her person.
Sexual Abuse
Most of the security forces personnel hail from strictly patriarchal societies
of mainland India, they are extremely prejudiced against women. Coupled with the
prejudice is the elated status they enjoy under the special laws. As a result,
many a Manipuri women have fallen victim to their carnal desires.
Out of the dozens of rape cases by the security personnel which came out in the
open, it was only in one case that the rapists were tried and punished, that too
in their own military court. In August 1996, two armymen raped a woman in front
of her 12 year old son, during the course of a counter insurgency operation. The
army authorities took up the case only after a mass movement. But it was more of
an exception rather than the rule.
In other reported cases, the military tribunal decided otherwise and there is
little that the women can do. On 4 April 1998, for example, a pregnant woman
Pramo Devi (aged 27), was raped at gunpoint inside her own house by a soldier of
the 6th J & K Rifles of the Army while on patrolling duty. But the military
court ruled that it was only a molestation and not rape.
Most rape by the army goes unreported due to fear of social stigma and the
futility of taking up a embarrassing legal battle against the might of the Army.
(also see The Fear of Rape)
A girl's modesty comes under suspicion, once she is arrested by the police or
security forces and detained in their custody, if only for a few hours. A
17-year old innocent girl Oinam Subashini of Thanga Island, who was detained and
interrogated in army custody during a week-long army operation around Loktak
Lake in January 1999 as an underground suspect, voiced a similar concern before
the Chairman and members of the Manipur Human Rights Commission. In spite of the
psychological pressure, Subashini's life still goes on. But in another case, a
girl took the extreme step.
On 25 March 1999, following the investigation of a murder case, Chabungbam
Jamini, an 11 year old girl, was taken into custody by 32 Assam Rifles stationed
at Yairipok, on the charge that she was the girl friend of an underground
activist. She was interrogated at their camp. The recorded version of the girl's
testimony was broadcast at a public meeting convened by the commander of the
Assam Rifles post, for reasons best known to himself, on 31 March.
Two days later, on 2 April 1999, the girl committed suicide, unable to bear the
public humiliation. The father of the girl Chabungbam Sukhapur filed a complaint
to the MHRC (case no. 30 of 1999). The matter was referred to the NHRC. Nothing
happened thereafter. (see specific cases
of human rights abuse of women by security forces in HRA Dairy in Document 2)
The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Ms. Coomarswamy, while
dealing with situations of armed conflict in her 4th report to the Commission
wrote -
... the military environment is inherently masculine and
misogynist, inimical to the notion of women's rights (...) The masculinity
cults that pervade military establishments are intrinsically anti-female and
therefore create a hostile environment for women.
Nothing could be more apt than these words, for summing up the fear lurking in
the minds of women, in the heavily militarised environment of Manipur.
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Other articles in the January Feature
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