Guwahati: The Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has issued notices to Director General of Police (DGP) Rajiv Singh and Security Adviser Kuldeip Singh,for failing to “act in time” and prevent the violence in Jiribam district last month, despite intelligence reports from the state government.
Violence broke out in Jiribam district last month after police, on 6 June, recovered the mutilated body of a 59-year-old Meitei man from the hillside. The incident led to widespread panic in Jiribam and adjoining areas, reigniting old hostilities.
The Commission issued the notices in response to a complaint petition by Meitei residents from Assam’s Cachar district — Saikhom Kamala Kanta Singha from Silchar town and Fanjowbam Lokenath Singha from Karai Kandi village. Jiribam shares its border with Cachar.
The complaint petition blamed the DGP and the security adviser for failing to prevent the violence in Jiribam — allegedly by Kuki-Zo militants — despite intelligence inputs provided by the Chief Minister’s office.
The complainants held the officials responsible for the law and order situation in Jiribam and adjoining areas, which forced residents of a few Meitei villages to leave their homes and seek shelter in relief camps. These people were not being duly compensated after leaving their villages — Lamtai Khunou, Loukoibung, Harinagar, Narayanpur, Bhutangkhal, and Leishabithol, they alleged.
The MHRC notices, in response to the petition, have also been sent to the commissioner (home), the deputy commissioner, the superintendent of police in Jiribam, and the secretary to the chief minister. The MHRC has also asked the DGP to furnish a “preliminary status report” on or before Wednesday when it will hear the matter again.
ThePrint has contacted both the DGP and the security adviser via phone messages, and this report will be updated if any response is received.
What secretary’s letters said
The complainants had filed their petition with copies of three letters the secretary wrote to the DGP and the security adviser in January.
In one of the letters, dated 15 January, the secretary informed the DGP about the “movement of 200 armed Kuki-Zo militants” from “Churachandpur to Phaitol Village, and Old and New Kaiphundai areas of Tamenglong district, bordering Jiribam”.
In the second letter, dated 27 January, the secretary requested the DGP to provide “adequate measures to pre-empt spread of the current law and order situation in Jiribam district, and to take up effective counter-measures, including domination of strategic locations using central forces/state forces”, the MHRC notice mentioned.
Highlighting incidents of gunfire in Jiribam on 31 December last year and on the next day, followed by another incident on 21 January, the letter reported “movement of armed miscreants from Churachandpur towards Vangai Range bordering area of Jiribam”, according to the petition.
In a third letter to the DGP and the security adviser on 31 January, the secretary shared the “possibility of (an) attempt to loot arms and ammunition of 7 IRB located in Jiribam district” and requested the police department to take necessary steps, the notice, citing the letter, said.
Further, referring to a message from the Jiribam police department to the additional director general of police on 21 January, the panel stated that the district police apprised the DGP about the law and order situation in the district “at the relevant time”, and the ADGP (law & order) was also requested “to provide two companies of central armed police forces for elaborate security deployment at Jiribam and Borobekra sub-division”.
The Commission also referred to an First Information Report (FIR) over a gunfight incident on 21 January morning at Durgapur (Lamtai Khunou) village under the Borobekra sub-division of Jiribam.
“The DGP, Manipur, Mr. Rajiv Singh, currently holding the post of director general of police, did not take any actions on the aforesaid letters,” the notice said.
“We are not expressing any opinion regarding the statements made in the complaint petition at the motion stage before getting the preliminary status report from the authorities concerned,” the notice read.
“However, we are prima facie of the view that if the authorities concerned acted on the request of the secretary to the chief minister, Manipur, as well as the message of the district police, Jiribam, in time, probably more than hundreds of families would not leave their houses due to the alleged firing by the alleged Kuki-Zo militants,” it continued.
Referring to the petition, the panel also cited the orders issued by the DGP on 7 June when violence occurred in Jiribam, as mentioned in the complaint petition. The DGP, the petition stated, ordered the “deployment of 138 police personnel in Jiribam whose names were mentioned in the order copy”. The personnel, however, were not sent to the vulnerable areas, including Lamtai Khunou in Jiribam, where the “violence continues to persist”, it mentioned.
“Moreover, some of the police personnel whose particulars were given in the order issued by the DGP are non-existent as they are believed to have died long back or (are) lodged in jail,” the petition alleged.
The Commission has now observed that it would be “proper to implead the secretary to the chief minister so that the matter can be properly decided”.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)