The CBI has constituted a special team of five officers headed by a Superintendent of Police to examine cases of extra judicial killings in Manipur. The move of the agency came on the orders of Supreme Court on July 14. The apex court had directed the CBI to constitute the team to examine records, file necessary FIRs and complete the investigation into the fake encounters by December 31.
Calling upon states to adhere to the NHRC guidelines, the bench had said "it is not as if the dignity of only living persons needs to be respected, even the dignity of the dead must be given due respect".
"Having considered the issues in their entirety, we are of opinion that it would be appropriate if the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is required to look into these fake encounters or use of excessive or retaliatory force," a bench of justices M B Lokur and U U Lalit had said.
The court, which was hearing a PIL seeking probe into 1,528 extra-judicial killings, had ordered registration of FIR in 81 cases including 32 cases probed by a Commission of Enquiry, 32 cases investigated by judicial enquiries and high courts, 11 cases in which compensation has been awarded by NHRC and six cases probed by the commission headed by former Supreme Court judge Santosh Hegde.
