Monthly Archives: August 2018

LEGAL REPRIEVE Activists say the Apex court’s judgment will ensure those who violate rights or indulge in extra-judicial killings will not go unpunished

The ruling will ensure that those who violate rights or indulge in extra-judicial killings will not go unpunished. A blanket AFSPA on the people of Manipur is in itself a violation of the Constitution… BEENALAXMI NEPRAM, Rights activist This won’t make my son come back to life. But an honest probe should save other fathers in Manipur the trauma of losing their sons to bullets TOKPAM SAMARENDRA, whose son was allegedly killed by personnel of Assam Rifles

GUWAHATI: Tokpam Samarendra waited almost 16 years for justice. He didn’t get it on July 8 when the Supreme Court said the armed forces cannot use excessive or retaliatory force even in areas where the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is in force.

But the 72-year-old man from Manipur saw a ray of hope when the top court sought an independent inquiry into 1,528 cases of extra-judicial killings between May 1979 and May 2012 in his home state. His son, Shantikumar, is on that list. “This won’t make my son come back to life. But an honest probe should save other fathers in Manipur the trauma of losing their sons to bullets,” Samarendra said.

His 19-year-old son was among 10 people that Assam Rifles personnel, reacting to a bomb blast, had allegedly gunned down at Malom near the Manipur capital Imphal on November 2, 2000.

The incident made Irom Sharmila, then 28, go on an indefinite fast against the “draconian” AFSPA, which gives security forces extra-judicial powers during anti-insurgency operations.

Manipur had seen massacres by armed forces before Malom. In March 1984, CRPF personnel gunned down 13 people, including a 10-year-old girl, watching a volleyball match at Heirangoithong on the outskirts of Imphal.

The CRPF men, a probe panel said later, had reacted after a group of Manipuri militants snatched the rifles of nine constables standing guard near the volleyball court and shot the tenth before melting away.

Operation Bluebird followed three years later at Oinam, a Naga village 95km north of Imphal.

An Amnesty International report said the armed forces tortured the villagers from July to October 1978 after National Socialist Council of Nagaland rebels attacked an Assam Rifles outpost, killed nine soldiers and took away their arms and ammunition.

That period of “punishment” for helping rebels claimed 27 lives, though the official count is 15.

Such incidents of mass killings stirred human rights campaigners into action. Sharmila’s silent protest put the focus on the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and how it gives the security forces the “licence to kill”.

Sharmila, who has vowed to end her fast only if the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is repealed, has been going through a release-and-re-arrest routine and is nose-fed at a government hospital ward, which has been converted into a jail for her.

Imphal-based Human Rights Alert Manipur (HRAM) and Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association, Manipur (EEVFAM), which petitioned the top court on the 1,528 cases, say people are often picked up at random and killed in “encounters” — a name given to shootouts with militants, real or staged.

The association’s president, 33-yearold Renu Takhellambam, lost her husband Monghangjao in one such “encounter” on April 6, 2007. “The Supreme Court’s observation in connection with our cases is welcome, but justice still eludes us,” she said.

Babloo Loitongbam, executive director of HRAM, termed the court’s view a small step forward in a long legal battle.

“We have been demanding a special investigation team to probe the 1,528 cases, but we are not clear what this probe (as sought by SC) means,” he said.

The court, said rights activist Beenalaxmi Nepram, has reaffirmed people’s faith in the justice system. “The ruling will ensure that those who violate rights or indulge in extra-judicial killings will not go unpunished. A blanket AFSPA on the people of Manipur is in itself a violation of the Constitution. We will keep fighting for its repeal from the entire country,” she said.

But army and paramilitary officers say they never use excessive force, pointing out that Manipur Police commandos – without the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act shield – are accused in many of the 1,528 cases. An instance is that of Hijam Sanjoy, 26, who the commandos had killed in an “encounter” on June 28, 2008.

“Full removal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act is not desirable. But every state should review the situation and remove it from areas where it is not needed.

Tripura decided to lift AFSPA last year while the army does not operate in certain cities of Assam. Manipur too made the Imphal area AFSPAfree, but states troubled by terrorism want the act to stay,” Guwahati-based Ranjit Barthakur, retired brigadier, said.

In 2005, the Justice Jeevan Reddy panel recommended repealing Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and incorporation of its provisions into the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.Manipur’s AFSPA-phobia does not necessarily translate into hostility towards the army or paramilitary forces. But reining in the armed forces and probing the extra-judicial killings, many feel, would go a long way in delivering justice to a scarred state.

Anil Chowdhry
It suits the political masters to keep the police under their tutelage and often misuse it to sub-serve their vested interests. The ordinary citizen is the sufferer.

BYSTANDERS: The ineffective role of the police during the Jat agitation in Haryana was manifestation of the breakdown of a healthy relationship between the political and police leadership. PTI

Safety and security of citizen’s lives and properties, and maintenance of law and order, the basis of police forces the world over, has unfortunately taken a back seat in India. It lies deeply buried in our colonial past and unwillingness of the political and bureaucratic leadership of free India to make the police a service to its citizens, as agents of the law.There are clear and repeated indications that law and order is being allowed to be breached and criminal depredations continue with impunity in some parts of our country. Rioting by a cult mob in Mathura — which took a toll of 29 lives, including two police bravehearts — and the mayhem witnessed for almost 10 days earlier this year in large parts of Haryana are pointers to the dark alleys through which law and order in our country is traversing.The  focus of policing created by British rulers vide the Indian Police Act of 1861, coming in the wake of the 1857 uprising, was unsurprisingly to defend their newly imposed (1858) sovereignty against public unrest. The British encouraged Indian police officers to create rutba, a Persian term denoting aura of power, which helped in maintenance of peace. This rutba naturally began diminishing after Independence and has almost disappeared now. Post Independence, it suits our political masters to keep the police under their tutelage and often misuse it to sub-serve their vested interests. The ordinary citizen consequently is the sufferer. But who cares.The Prakash Singh Committee Report pointing to the total collapse of policing and mobs being allowed to indulge in wanton looting and arson in Haryana are indeed shocking. Dereliction of duty and even connivance of certain police officers with the rioters brought out by the report are areas of serious concern and deserve to be taken note of by the highest levels in the government. But will such incidents arouse public ire to the extent of forcing the political masters to put policing in our country back on the rails?The report has generated considerable debate within the police fraternity. Questions are being asked as to how did our policing sink to such depths? Why are police leaders not able to stand up to their political masters politely but firmly? They just have to convey the message that there shall be zero tolerance to those taking the law into their hands. The government too must respond by demonstrating that in the police hierarchy only merit and integrity, and not political loyalty, shall count. But will this happen is another moot point?That the police forces need to be reformed is universally acknowledged but they till this day continue to function by and large under the same archaic law of 1861.Even the directions of the apex court have not been acted upon by most state governments. Debates on the need to reform the police continue. But we are nowhere near the complete overhaul that the policing system requires.Who will do the clean-up? Most of my former colleagues, and many still in service, have become cynical, and throw up their hands in despair.We have faltered in ensuring delivery of police services to our law-abiding citizens. The strength of our civil police has failed to keep pace with the rapid rise in our population. On the other hand, our limited resources have been spent on mindless proliferation of paramilitary police, both Central and state. Manpower of our thanas and police outposts, which are charged with the basic responsibility of prevention and detection of crime and maintenance of peace in their jurisdiction, is totally inadequate. Our citizen-to-policeman ratio as compared to even other developing countries is poor.Multi-tiered recruitments at the level of constables, head constables, sub-inspectors, DSPs and IPS is another fault-line in Indian policing where correction is long overdue. Add to this the poor pay and working conditions of the subordinate police officers who are the cutting edge of our policing and the level at which maximum interaction with citizens takes place.The quality of policemen thus appears appalling, particularly to the higher-income citizens who frequently travel abroad and compare their local beat constable with the London Bobby. Little do they realise that in the wake of a strike by policemen in 1980 and based on the recommendations of a commission on police reforms, the police is the highest paid civil service in the UK and recruitment is only at one level—as constables.The communication between the higher ranks in the Indian police and their subordinates, which was earlier meticulously kept alive via thana inspections, weekly  parades in the police lines, visits to living quarters of the constabulary and orderly rooms by district police chiefs, have all broken down under the weight of heavy day-to-day pressures from political masters. Field police officers are being kept occupied in unwarranted meetings and VIP security duties. All this has cost policing benefits to the average citizens dearly and created a severe trust deficit between the police and the people.The writer is former Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs.

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Chennai: A major scam involving the loss of several crores of rupees over nine years through the misuse of smartcards for purchase of subsidised goods, mainly groceries and liquor, from military canteens in Chennai, Bengaluru and Kadapa has been unearthed, top military sources said.

On July 2, 2015, documents available with TOI show, the Chennai military station commander in a complaint to police commissioner S George said grocery items and liquor, meant for defence personnel, were procured from military canteens illegally and sold in the local market with the help of touts.

It named the civilian touts, Army staff, canteen operators and executives of Noida-based Smart Chip Pvt Ltd (CIMS), the authorised firm for issue of smartcards for use in military canteens, as beneficiaries of the scam.

The complaint was then forwarded for further inquiry to the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Chennai police. On July 23, the CCB police registered a First Information Report in the scam, estimating the loss to the Army at ’60 crore but the actual loss could be much higher, the sources said. The charge that the city police were dragging their feet on the issue and hinted that the case may be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Since 2006-07, executives from CIMS head office and its Chennai branch with connivance of military canteen staff collected thousands of old cards in Chennai, Bengaluru and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh and reactivated them for fradulent use, top military brass said.

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 30

Two soldiers were killed and another was injured as they foiled an infiltration bid near the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowgam sector of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.  Two militants were also killed in the gunbattle, the second in the area in the past three days. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

 “When challenged, they resorted to indiscriminate firing. A fierce gunfight followed in which two jawans — Ashish Choudhary and Babloo Singh of 18 Jat Regiment — were killed. One jawan was injured,” defence spokesman Col NN Joshi said. He said the operation was underway and the Army was combing the thick forest. Sources said the Army had pressed choppers into service to hunt for any more militants hiding in the area. Besides ammunition, food items had been recovered.There have been Intelligence inputs that owing to the civil unrest in Kashmir in the past three weeks, Pakistan and militants’ handlers are trying to push more men into Kashmir.   Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh, during his recent visit, had asked the soldiers to remain vigilant against  infiltration attempts. Official figures show that against the total figure of 35 last year, 54 militants were able to infiltrate into Kashmir in the first half of 2016. And this may be the reason for the increase in violence in the Valley.Meanwhile, barring parts of Srinagar, Anantnag and Pampore towns, curfew was today lifted in Kashmir even as life remained disrupted  because of the strike called by separatists.Far away, the United States, while expressing concern over the tension in the Valley, called on “all sides” to make efforts for lasting peace.

Minister’s cavalcade attacked

• Srinagar: Education Minister Naeem Akhtar escaped unhurt after his cavalcade came under a stone-pelting attack in Sumbal area of Bandipore district, about 25 km north of here, on Saturday evening. The incident took place at Shilvat on the Srinagar-Bandipore road when he was on his way back after taking stock of the law and order situation. TNS

Here are the highlights of the recommendations of the commission:

1. The present system of Pay Bands and Grade Pay has been dispensed with and a new Pay Matrix as recommended by the Commission has been approved. The status of the employee, hitherto determined by grade pay, will now be determined by the level in the Pay Matrix. Separate Pay Matrices have been drawn up for Civilians, Defence Personnel and for Military Nursing Service. The principle and rationale behind these matrices are the same.

2. All existing levels have been subsumed in the new structure; no new levels have been introduced nor has any level been dispensed with. Index of Rationalisation has been approved for arriving at minimum pay in each Level of the Pay Matrix depending upon the increasing role, responsibility and accountability at each step in the hierarchy.

3. The minimum pay has been increased from Rs 7,000 to 18,000 per month. Starting salary of a newly recruited employee at the lowest level will now be Rs 18,000 whereas for a freshly recruited Class I officer, it will be Rs 56,100. This reflects a compression ratio of 1:3.12 signifying that the pay of a Class I officer on direct recruitment will be three times the pay of an entrant at the lowest level.

4. For the purpose of revision of pay and pension, a fitment factor of 2.57 will be applied across all Levels in the Pay Matrices. After taking into account the DA at prevailing rate, the salary/pension of all government employees/pensioners will be raised by at least 14.29 % as on 01.01.2016.

5. Rate of increment has been retained at 3%. This will benefit the employees in future on account of higher basic pay as the annual increments that they earn in future will be 2.57 times than at present.

6. The Cabinet approved further improvements in the Defence Pay Matrix by enhancing Index of Rationalisation for Level 13A (Brigadier) and providing for additional stages in Level 12A (Lieutenant Colonel), 13 (Colonel) and 13A (Brigadier) in order to bring parity with Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) counterparts at the maximum of the respective Levels.

7. Some other decisions impacting the employees including Defence & Combined Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel include :

— Gratuity ceiling enhanced from Rs10 to 20 lakh. The ceiling on gratuity will increase by 25 % whenever DA rises by 50%.

— A common regime for payment of Ex-gratia lump sum compensation for civil and defence forces personnel payable to Next of Kin with the existing rates enhanced from Rs 10-20 lakh to Rs 25-45 lakh for different categories.

— Rates of Military Service Pay revised from Rs 1,000, 2,000, 4,200 and 6,000 to Rs 3,600, 5,200, 10,800 and 15,500 respectively for various categories of Defence Forces personnel.

— Terminal gratuity equivalent of 10.5 months of reckonable emoluments for Short Service Commissioned Officers who will be allowed to exit Armed Forces any time between 7 and 10 years of service.

— Hospital Leave, Special Disability Leave and Sick Leave subsumed into a composite new Leave named ‘Work Related Illness and Injury Leave’ (WRIIL). Full pay and allowances will be granted to all employees during the entire period of hospitalization on account of WRIIL.

8. The Cabinet also approved the recommendation of the Commission to enhance the ceiling of House Building Advance from Rs 7.50 lakh to 25 lakh. In order to ensure that no hardship is caused to employees, four interest-free advances namely Advances for Medical Treatment, TA on tour/transfer, TA for family of deceased employees and LTC have been retained. All other interest-free advances have been abolished.

9. The Cabinet also decided not to accept the steep hike in monthly contribution towards Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) recommended by the Commission. The existing rates of monthly contribution will continue. This will increase the take home salary of employees at lower levels by Rs 1,470. However, considering the need for social security of employees, the Cabinet has asked Ministry of Finance to work out a customised group insurance scheme for Central Government Employees with low premium and high risk cover.

10. The general recommendations of the Commission on pension and related benefits have been approved by the Cabinet. Both the options recommended by the Commission as regards pension revision have been accepted subject to feasibility of their implementation. Revision of pension using the second option based on fitment factor of 2.57 shall be implemented immediately. A Committee is being constituted to address the implementation issues anticipated in the first formulation. The first formulation may be made applicable if its implementation is found feasible after examination by proposed Committee which is to submit its Report within 4 months.

11. The Commission examined a total of 196 existing Allowances and, by way of rationalisation, recommended abolition of 51 Allowances and subsuming of 37 Allowances. Given the significant changes in the existing provisions for Allowances which may have wide-ranging implications, the Cabinet decided to constitute a Committee headed by Finance Secretary for further examination of the recommendations of 7th CPC on Allowances. The Committee will complete its work in a time bound manner and submit its reports within a period of 4 months. Till a final decision, all existing Allowances will continue to be paid at the existing rates.

12. The Cabinet also decided to constitute two separate Committees:

    (i) to suggest measures for streamlining the implementation of National Pension System (NPS) and

    (ii) to look into anomalies likely to arise out of implementation of the Commission’s Report.

13. Apart from the pay, pension and other recommendations approved by the Cabinet, it was decided that the concerned Ministries may examine the issues that are administrative in nature, individual post/ cadre specific and issues in which the Commission has not been able to arrive at a consensus.

14. As estimated by the 7th CPC, the additional financial impact on account of implementation of all its recommendations in 2016-17 will be Rs 1,02,100 crore. There will be an additional implication of Rs 12,133 crore on account of payments of arrears of pay and pension for two months of 2015-16.

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 29

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to respond by Monday to Army doctors’ plea for enhancing their retirement age to 65 under the recent policy announced by the Centre.A Bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit issued notice to the Centre on a PIL by some of the doctors of the Army Medical Corps and Army Dental Corps pleading for parity with civilian medicos in the retirement age at 65.A copy of the petition should be handed over to the government during the day to enable it to respond by August 1, the next date for hearing, the court clarified.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Arguing for the petitioners, advocate Indira Sen Singh said his clients would be superannuating in two days and as such, the Bench should restrain the government from retiring them, pending disposal of their petition. “Don’t worry on this,” the Bench told the petitioners, Amitabh Thapliyal and others, without passing any restraint order.The petitioners from the Army Medical Corps (AMC) pleaded that the Centre had enhanced the retirement age of non-teaching civilian doctors to 65 years, but the Defence Ministry was not extending the benefit to the Army where doctors retired at 60 or 62, depending upon their rank.However, other government wings such as paramilitary forces had decided to follow the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) decision to retire doctors at 65 years of age from May 31 this year.If the Army was not willing to retain them, they should be transferred to other departments facing shortage of doctors so that they could continue to serve till 65, they pleaded. The Centre’s move to increase the retirement age has come at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using the services of experienced doctors to benefit the poor.

Deepanker Gupta

Udhampur, July 27

As the search for the AN-32 IAF aircraft, which went missing over the Bay of Bengal on July 22 with 29 persons on board, is on, the family members of airman Ravi Dev Singh, a resident of Pakhali village in Udhampur district, wait and pray for a miracle.Airman Ravi Dev Singh (19) was on board the missing aircraft. A pall of gloom descended on his village as the news of the missing aircraft spread.For the past five days, Ravi’s mother, father, brother and sisters have not had their meals. They are awaiting some news about the missing aircraft.Ravi’s friends said they were praying to god for a miracle and expecting Ravi to come home safely. They said all his family members, especially Ravi’s mother, was in a shock and had stopped talking to everyone. She only wants to see her son safe and alive, they said.“We are all waiting to hear some good news. We had spent some time together when he (Ravi) was here on leave a month ago,” said one of Ravi’s friends.“We pray that not only our friend, but all 29 on board the AN-32 aircraft safely return home,” he added.

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 26

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has observed that operational capabilities of C-17 Globemaster aircraft were under-utilised due to non-availability of runway with appropriate length and strength (pavement classification number) and lack of ground equipment at various bases.The IAF had procured 10 C-17s and associated equipment from the US at a cost of 18,646 crore, which form 81 Squadron based at Hindon. There was delay in the completion of specialist infrastructure and setting up of simulators required for training pilots and loadmasters.The average load airlifted by C-17 ranged between 13 and 18 tonne per sortie, against the aircraft’s payload capacity of 70 tonne. The IAF flew 666 C-17 sorties in 2013, 1,617 in 2014 and 1,992 in 2015, out of which only 72, 260 and 731, respectively, were for air maintenance.On the VVIP front, CAG observed that the utilisation of the current fleet of Air Headquarters Communication Squadron, tasked with ferrying top leaders, was low. The squadron has three Boeing Business Jets, four Embraer aircraft and six Mi-8 helicopters. In addition, Air India’s Boeing 747-400 aircraft are used for international VVIP travel.

Nearly every video of Burhan Wani shows him affirming that his fight is for Islam. (Express Photo by Shuaib Masoodi)