Protests spiral in north-eastern India over killing of youth

Aug 11, 2009, 10:40 GMT

   New Delhi - Indian police fired teargas Tuesday at people protesting the alleged killing of a youth by police in the north-eastern state of Manipur, news reports said.

   State capital Imphal has been under indefinite curfew for over a week since protests snowballed over the killing of former separatist rebel Chungkham Sanjit on July 23.

   A pregnant woman was also killed and five others injured by stray bullets in the incident, PTI news agency reported.

   Protestors led by the Apunba Lup organization have been marching and defying curfew, demanding the resignation of the state chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh and action against the police commandos they allege were responsible for killing Sanjit.

   They say Sanjit had surrendered and was killed in custody without provocation.

   Television footage aired on a national news channels had showed Sanjit being dragged into a shopping complex near the state's legislative assembly building and then his lifeless body being dragged out.

   The Manipur government ordered a judicial inquiry.

   Police claimed Sanjit had fired on them when he was chased and they retaliated.

   On Tuesday, police fired teargas at protestors including several women in the Thumbuthong area.

   Another group defied curfew to try and submit a memorandum to the state's Governor Gurbachan Jagat demanding action on what they termed 'a fake encounter.'

   Apunba Lup is an umbrella forum of various social organizations and youth groups. It has been spearheading agitation against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Manipur.

   The law gives security forces special powers to search, arrest, and shoot-to-kill in an effort to tackle militancy in the region.

   More than 50 militant groups operate in the north-eastern Indian states of Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya.

   North-eastern India is a region long-neglected by the federal government, and the insurgency stems from economic backwardness and political alienation of the largely tribal populations.

   The Apunba Lup claims innocent people were being killed in the name of fighting militancy.

   'We have been demanding life imprisonment for the five police commandos involved in the killings,' Thongram Anita, convenor of Apunba Lub, said.

   All entry and exit points to Imphal were being monitored by the police and vehicles were being checked, PTI reported. Mobile police parties were patrolling different parts of the city and asking people to remain indoors.

   In a recent report, US-based Human Rights Watch called for a repeal of the controversial special powers act.

   It also asked the Manipur government to act to end a cycle of 'unpunished violence,' including killings by security forces and armed groups.