Guwahati, June 7 NNN : Acting based on a complaint lodged by the southern Assam-based Barak Human Rights Protection Committee to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the allegation that 23rd Assam Rifles personnel were involved in the killing of one Laishram Nobin and two others even after they had surrendered to the security force on May 9 last in Manipur’s Ukhrul district, the NHRC has asked the paramilitary force to give its version.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to the secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs of the government of India, district magistrate and district superintendent of police of Ukhrul district asking for a report and action taken within two weeks time on the alleged torture and the extrajudicial killing of three people in a staged encounter by the personnel belonging to 23rd Assam Rifles (AR) under the command of Major Hanuman near Maphou Dam, Nongdam village of Ukhrul district.
Regarding the killing of the Manipuri youth, the Barak Human Rights Protection Committee received information from Manipur based human rights organization Centre for Organisation Research & Education (CORE), the NHRC’s notice mentioned.
The three armed militants were reported to have been killed in an encounter with troops of 23 Assam Rifles near Chadong Tangkhul village under Litan police station in Ukhrul district was a clear case of fake encounter, said the father of one of the deceased militants.
The three deceased militants have been identified as Laishram Nobin Singh @ Khuman (42) s/o L. Shyamkishore of Tumukhong Awang Leikai, Ningthoujam Ingocha (42) s/o (L) Pasot of the same village and Irengbam Rosan (26) @ Boicha s/o Ibomcha of Khagenpali Ningom Leirak, Imphal.
Father of late Nobin, L. Shyamkishore had told the media on May 10 that his son along with two of his companions were handed over to one major Hanuman, post commander of 23 Assam Rifles posted at Nongdam Kukikhul, along with arms for surrendering to the government of Manipur, but they were killed in a fake encounter and their dead bodies deposited at the morgue of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).
The father of the deceased had narrated that his son, Nobin had expressed his desire to surrender around April 26/27 this year so that he can return home and join the mainstream, and he had talked to the AR officer regarding the matter. The AR officer came to his house on May 6 and asked him to tell his son to surrender within two days, he had added.
Shyamkishore contacted his son Nobin and told him to get ready to surrender to the AR officer by May 8, to which Nobin said that the date was too early and to fix another date. But the AR officer did not agree and on May 9 the father went with the AR officer to a spot at Hidabi Lok where his son would surrender. There was no sign of Nobin and his companions at the spot, he added.
The father of Nobin was then asked to go ahead by the AR officer and wait at the AR post as he had come on a two wheeler. But the AR team to whom he had handed over his son and two of his companions did not return till noon the next day and though he heard about an encounter taking place near the spot where his son had surrendered, he thought nothing of it because he had handed over his son to the AR.
The father of late Nobin had revealed that the three dead militants belonged to a group MNLF which is a faction of the KYKL, but this has not yet been confirmed officially.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/nhrc-issues-notice-on-killing-of-three-by-assam-rifles/
