Manipur: CBI books Army Major in ‘fake’ encounter case

Of the 29 FIRs registered by CBI with regards to the Manipur encounters on the directions of the Supreme Court, CBI for the first time booked an Army officer in connection with the killing of a 12-year-old boy in Imphal West in 2009.

Major Vijay Singh Balhara, has been booked in accordance with allegation of the CBI case of the killing of Azad Khan from Phoubakchao Makha Leikai area. Azad’s case was termed as a ‘fake encounter’ by SC appointed commission led by Retired Justice Santosh Hegde which stated that the class VII student with no criminal antecedents was picked up from his house and allegedly shot in front of his parents and 21 soldiers.

The allegations were made by Azad’s father, Wahid Ali who deposed before the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Hegde Commission that his son was killed by the personnel of Manipur Police Commando in a fake encounter after being picked up from his home” on March 4, 2009 around 11.50 am, according to the CBI.

The Commission had noted that an FIR was filed nearly two months before the alleged encounter under charges of attempt to murder and Arms Act, among others.

“According to the security forces’ evidence, the deceased was suspected to be a member of the Peoples United Liberation Front (PULF),” the Committee asserted while adding that PULF was not a banned organisation according to Manipur government.

A report in The Times of India stated that Azad’s family had said that the minor was reading a newspaper with his friend and neighbour Kiyam Ananda Singh in the verandah of his house, where his parents and relatives were present. At 11.50 am, about 30 security personnel came to the house and dragged Azad to a field nearby where he was severely beaten up amid protest from parents, the Commission said in its report.

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Azad’s parents, relatives and friends were locked in a room by security forces but they could see through the window that after being beaten up, the boy was shot by one of the commandos and a pistol was thrown near the body, it said. The version of family members was supported by relatives, it said.

The police had at the time claimed that it received intel about terrorist movement in Azad’s locality to extort money from people. They added that after reaching the area, they found two persons running through bamboo groves, firing at them. An encounter ensued for five minutes after which the boy’s body was found and a 9 mm Smith and Wesson pistol was recovered, the report said.

The Commission then noted that there was ‘serious contradiction’ between the deposition of Major Balhara, who led the operation and of the other witnesses.

The report also noted that forces knew exactly where the deceased was as they directly went to his home. “It is to be noted that it has come in deposition that the house from which the youths started running is the house of the deceased. Therefore the fact that the deceased was in his house when the commandos first saw him and was not involved in any extortion of money at that time is established”.

The Hegde Commission submitted its report to the Supreme Court calling it a case of extra-judicial killing,
concluded that the autopsy reports, details of crime scene, statements of witnesses, police and Assam Rifles.

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