NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court asked the Centre, Manipur government and the National Human Rights Commission to submit a comprehensive report on alleged fake encounter cases in the state, including 62 such cases where FIRs have not even been lodged.
The court also rapped the state government for not doing enough in the matter, including providing compensation, and said it was a fact that these were encounters, whether "fake or genuine".
"Tell us what you (Centre, NHRC and state government)have done since 2012. Give us the latest report of 2015. We are not concerned as what happened in 2012," the social justice bench, comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and U U Lalit, said.
"These are not natural deaths then why you are keeping quiet. Don't you think that this fact itself should have galvanized you," the bench said, adding that earlier a three-member panel was appointed under the chairmanship of Justice Santosh Hegde because the "facts were not clear".
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Extra Judicial Execution Victims' Families Association, said, "in all these 62 cases, not a single FIR has been lodged against any of the accused."The bench, which has now fixed the PIL for further hearing on August 3, has asked Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, representing the Centre, and the lawyers of NHRC and the state government to provide requisite information to the amicus curiae who, in turn, will prepare a comprehensive chart of cases for the perusal of court.
The court also said there were 3-4 options before it, including transferring of the probes in these cases to CBI. During the hearing, the bench also took strong note of objections raised by the ASG against the submission of the amicus curiae about the facts of the case.
When the amicus was giving details of encounter killings in Manipur, the ASG objected to her submission saying she should be clear about the facts and figures. The bench took the ASG to task saying "here is the amicus who is helping the court and providing details of the cases. Then, you (ASG) give the names of the 1,528 persons killed. You (ASG) cannot object like this."