GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and the Manipur government on a petition filed by the parents of Irom Roger, who was killed, allegedly by Nongthombam Ajay, the son of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, in a 2011 road rage incident.
In the petition, the parents alleged that they feared for their lives as they were being hounded by the police. A vacation Bench comprising justices L Nageswara Rao and Navin Sinha issued notices to the Union home secretary and the chief secretary of Manipur and asked them to respond by May 29 on the plea by Roger’s mother, Irom Chitra Devi.
Ajay is serving a five-year jail term after being convicted under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC by a Manipur court in January. Biren Singh was Manipur’s sports minister when the incident happened.
The killing had triggered widespread outrage forcing the then Congress State government to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The Supreme Court issued the notices after a protection petition was filed by the victims’ parents and activist Binalakshmi Nepram. The petitioners alleged that they were being intimidated by the police at the behest of the Chief Minister.
They said their houses were raided by the police, who also illegally detained the brother of the victim’s mother. The petition was filed through Supreme Court lawyer Utsav Singh Bains. The case would be heard on May 29.
Recently, Bains alleged that he had been “threatened” by militants to not take up the case. In a letter to the Union home secretary, Bains said he was engaged as counsel by the victim’s family for filing an appeal in the Manipur High Court and filing a petition in the Supreme Court against the convict and that he visited Manipur capital Imphal from March 17 to 19. “After my return, I received calls on my WhatsApp numbers on March 22 around 3.30 am.
The person who spoke in broken English with a Manipuri accent said he was calling from PLA and NSCIM and that I shouldn't go ahead with the case. Later, I informed the superintendent of police (CID) Imphal, of the threatening calls,” Bains said in the letter. But the SP (CID) denied having received any complaint from the advocate. The Manipur police said they were probing the matter.