New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday said the use of “excessive force” by armed forces or police was not permissible in ‘disturbed areas’ under the AFSPA.
Observing that the situation in Manipur has “never been one of war”, the court said killing citizens on suspicion that they are the “enemy” gravely endangers the democracy.
While dealing with a PIL, which complained of 1,528 extra-judicial killings in the state from 2000 to 2012 by security forces and police, it said, “If members of our armed forces are deployed and employed to kill citizens of our country on the mere allegation or suspicion that they are ‘enemy’, not only the rule of law, but our democracy would be in grave danger.”
The court, which directed a thorough probe into charges of fake encounter killings, said an inquest was needed “to know the truth” in Manipur where “we need to be clear that the situation has never been one of a war or an external aggression or an armed rebellion that threatens the security of the country or a part thereof.”
Delivering an 85-page verdict, the top court said “the public order situation in Manipur is, at best, an internal disturbance”. A bench of Justices M B Lokur and U U Lalit said that before branding a person a terrorist or insurgent, “there must be a commission or some attempt or semblance of a violent overt act”.
It said the armed forces “do not supplant the civil administration but only supplement it” and added that their deployment was “intended to restore normalcy and it would be extremely odd if normalcy was not restored within some reasonable period, certainly not an indefinite period or an indeterminate period”.
“A distinction must be drawn between the right of self defence or private defence and use of excessive force or retaliation. Very simply put, the right of self defence or private defence is a right that can be exercised to defend oneself but not to retaliate,” the bench said.
The bench also referred to an earlier verdict which cautioned against use of retaliatory force even against a dreaded criminal.