SC directs Centre to pay Rs 10 lakh as interim compensation to mother of girl killed by Assam Rifles personnel

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Thangjam Manorama Case Special Leave Petition (Civil) 14726 -14730 OF 2011 [UNION OF INDIA & ANR. Vs. STATE OF MANIPUR & ANR. The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the government to pay Rs 10 lakh as interim compensation to the mother of Manipuri girl Thangjam Manorama who was allegedly killed by Assam Rifles personnel in 2004. A Bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and P.C. Ghosh told the government to pay the amount within four weeks. The Bench admitted the petition challenging a Gauhati High Court order holding as valid the appointment of a commission of inquiry to go into the circumstances leading to Manorama's brutal death. REPORT OF COMMISSION OF THE JUDICIAL INQUIRY (MANORAMA DEATH INQUIRY COMMISSION) In November, the inquiry report was handed over to the Supreme Court revealing the "brutal and merciless" torture of the girl by an Assam Rifles team. After remaining under wraps for a decade, the report by the Judicial Inquiry Commission graphically revealed the last hours of "brutal and merciless torture" Manorama allegedly suffered at the hands of her captors before she was shot dead. Click here for full report. The report, submitted to the State government way back in December 2004, was never made public. The apex court had demanded it as part of a hearing on a PIL seeking probe into custodial deaths in the North-Eastern States. "This is one of the most shocking custodial killing of a Manipuri village girl," C. Upendra Singh, retired District and Sessions Judge, Manipur, who was Chairman of the Commission, wrote in the investigation report. He describes how Manorama was picked up by "a strong-armed troops of 17th Assam Rifles" in the night between 10-11 July 2004 from her home in Imphal East District. She was found dead with multiple gunshot injuries on genitals and thighs at Ngariyan Yairipok Road, hardly two km away from a police station. The Manorama case had led to widespread protests against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and is partly attributed to calls for review of the law, especially by the Justice J.S. Verma Committee in 2013. SLIC Councel Adv Meihoubam Rakesh has been representing Khumanlei and Dorendro, mother and younger brother of the deceased Thangjam Manorama since beginning of the case ie 2004. SLIC has been involved in proceeding of inquiry commission and High court. Victim's family moved to Supreme Court in 2011 and was represented by Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves and Adv Meihoubam Rakesh. SLIC welcomes the decision of SC in this case. The struggle for justice of Thangjam Manorama's families continues. We await the prosecution and punishment for those guilty of this crime.

Attachments

    https://slic.org.in/uploads/2018/07/report-of-commission-of-the-judicial-inquiry-manorama-death.pdf