A judicial commission appointed by the Supreme Court has held that an encounter in Manipur carried out by an Army Major who was awarded the nation's highest peacetime gallantry medal in 2009 was staged and that two cousins had been "knowingly" targeted by security forces.
The "encounter" in which cousins Gobind and Nobo Meitei were killed, took place in Imphal's Langol area on April 4, 2009 and involved a joint team of the local police and 39 Assam Rifles (AR) personnel. Four months later, Major D Sreeram Kumar, who was leading the AR unit, was awarded the Ashoka Chakra for being responsible for a "palpable decrease in insurgency activities" and bringing "succour to the people and ensuring their safety".
The officer is one of only two serving Ashoka Chakra winners of the Army and is now posted at a training institution. The Ashoka Chakra is the nation's highest peacetime gallantry medal and is equivalent to the Param Vir Chakra that is awarded in war time.
While the Army has not commented on the issue as the matter is sub judice, sources said the action for which the Major was awarded the Ashoka Chakra has not been called into question. While the report has indicted him for the April 2009 encounter, the award was given for eliminating four hardcore terrorists in an encounter in East Imphal on October 23, 2008, they said.
However, the April 2009 incident is one of six mentioned as sample cases of "not genuine encounters" by the judicial panel led by former judge Santosh Hegde.
"It would appear that the security forces believed a priori that the suspects involved in the encounters had to be eliminated and the forces acted accordingly," the panel, which has former election commission chief J M Lyngdoh and retired IPS officer Ajai Kumar Singh as members, said in its report.
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