SC orders CBI probe into extra-judicial killings in Manipur

New Delhi, July 14 : The Supreme Court on Friday directed a probe by the CBI into the alleged extra-judicial killings by the Army, the Assam Rifles and the Manipur Police in the insurgency-hit state. A Bench of Justices M B Lokur and U U Lalit asked the CBI director to appoint a team of officers to conduct the probe into the alleged killings. The court was hearing a PIL seeking probe and compensation in the alleged 1,528 extra-judicial killings in Manipur from 2000 to 2012 by security forces and police. On April 20, the Army had told the apex court that it cannot be subjected to FIRs for carrying out anti-militancy operations in insurgency-prone areas like Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur, while alleging local bias in judicial inquiries conducted against it in these regions, which have tarnished its image.”In every military operation, the Army cannot be disbelieved. Every judicial inquiry cannot be against the Army. The alleged extra-judicial killing cases in Manipur are not cases of massacre, rather these are cases of military operations,” the Centre had told the court. The Bench had also pulled up the Manipur government for not taking action on such alleged fake encounters by armed forces and asked was it “not supposed to do anything”. The Army had told the court that the judicial probes conducted into alleged extra-judicial killing charges were “biased” and slanted against them due to local factors.