The Supreme Court on Thursday set a three-week deadline for the CBI to file chargesheet in four extra-judicial killings in Manipur involving personnel of Army, Assam Rifles and State police.
The Special Investigation Team of CBI officials informed the Court that as on date, a total of 41 alleged fake encounters are under probe and besides the four cases where investigation is over, the agency intends to complete probe in 20 other cases within two months.
The Bench of Justices Madan B lokur and UU lalit observed that “what has happened in the state appears to be widespread,” and directed that these incidents are not merely violation of human rights but involves death of human beings, whether murder or not. Such violation of human rights “cannot be tolerated,” it added.
The court directed the SIT to co-opt two officers from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for probe into the pending cases and asked the Centre to remedy the “hopelessly overworked” human rights body of serious manpower crunch and financial scarcity.
The order came on a PIl seeking probe into as many as 1,528 cases of extra-judicial killings in Manipur, based on which the Court constituted the SIT for fresh probe.