Manipur’s Tragedy: Delhi’s Dilemma

By Lt. Col. L. Lokendra Singh (Retd)

Self styled Lt.Col Hopson Ningsen of NSCN(IM), was taken into custody of CBI on May 28,2009 as the prime accussed for the gruesome triple murder of Dr. Thingnam Kishan Singh, SDO of Kasom Khullen Sub-division of Ukhrul District, along with his driver Aribam Rajen Sharma and a mandal Yumnam Token Singh.Supreme court in its directives lays down that Death Sentence is to be given only in the rarest of rare cases. Will bludgeoning to death an Officer of Manipur Civil Services alongwith his two staff fall within the ambit of this Supreme Court directive?

Doctor Kishan along with five members of his staff, while coming out after attending a meeting in the DC’s office on Feb 13,2009 were abducted by NSCN(IM). For the next three days, their whereabouts were not known. The DC went off on a day’s casual leave, the SP feigned ignorance of the abduction and the Government of Manipur did practically nothing to trace out its missing sub-divisional officer and his five sub-ordinate staff. In the wee hours of Feb 17, 2009, the dead bodies of Dr.Kishan, his driver Rajen and mandal Token were found in the vicinity of Taphou Kuki village of Senapati district, bludgeoned to death. A bloodstained stone and a spade were found nearby. The whereabouts of the remaining three staff were still unknown.
News of the gruesome murder spread like wildfire, there was hue and cry from every nook and corner, people from all walks of life came out on the streets to protest. Huge protest rallies were held in Kasom Khullen Sub-division as also in the entire Ukhrul District. Cutting across ethnic lines and in a rare historic show of solidarity in an extremely fractured society of Manipur on the ethnic lines of Meitei, Naga and Kuki, people of all the hill districts of Manipur joined in in the protest against the gruesome killing of the three Meiteis. Fearing total breakdown in law and order, state government clamped curfew in greater Imphal area.
After four days of uncertainty, the missing three staff extension officer RS Ramsing, village level worker R Ramthing and peon Kapang Khui surfaced at Toloi in Ukhrul District unharmed. People rejoiced on their safe return. Later, however their complicity became suspect and it’s still a mystery till date. It is still not clear why were Dr.Kishan’s driver and mandal bludgeoned to death while the other three staff who were abducted together allowed to go scot free? Was it a manifestation of animosity NSCN(IM) harbours against Meiteis? The other three being Nagas they were allowed to go scot free?
Mounting public pressure including pressure from their tribal people of Ukhrul District assumed such magnitude that NSCN(IM) who had initially disclaimed any complicity with the gruesome murder owned up to the crime and admitted that persons involved namely self styled Lt.Col Hopson Ningsen, Ukhrul town commander Apho Sibo and self styled Major Ashang were in their custody and would be tried as per the outfit’s law.
An officer of the state bureaucracy along with his two staff had been brutally murdered. It was the basic responsibility of the state government - their employer, to go all out to find and book the culprits. Nay! Ibobi Singh led SPF government did nothing of the sort. Afraid of the unprecedented public outcry as also not wanting to take any responsibility on the issue, on Feb.19, 2009 two days after the murder incident, the case was handed over to CBI. And the SPF Government breathed a sigh of relief.
Question is, why was Dr. Kishan bludgeoned to death? What crime did he commit against the NSCN(IM) to deserve this brutal end? Dr.Kishan demonstrated a rare sense of integrity and courage as a civil officer. Unlike most other Government officials who have been unquestioningly obeying the dictates of NSCN(IM) in Ukhrul district of Manipur, he decided to swim against the tide and stubbornly opposed to the siphoning off of public fund into the coffer’s of the outfit. Dr.Kishan passionately believed that people’s development fund must go to the people. Sure enough NSCN(IM) was not pleased with Dr.Kishan’s resolve not to allow people’s development funds from being squandered by the militants and they decided to teach the young idealist officer a lesson. After four days of captivity and torture, Dr. Kishan paid with his life for his uprightness and idealism.
Dr. Kishan moved about unescorted like any other civilian. If the idea was to kill him, he could have been easily way laid anywhere, anytime, singled out and shot dead in line with the modus operandi of NSCN(IM).It’s a mystery as to why the outfit took the trouble of removing number plates from the Government allotted Gypsy vehicle, pushed it down the hill side, move Dr.Kishan and his staff from village to village across Ukhrul District for four days and four nights and then finally take him to the adjoining district of Senapati and bludgeon him to death near a Kuki village. Gun totting militants normally use their weapons. Why this aberration? Was there a message intended in all this? Further, was it also intended to foment communal trouble between Meiteis and Kukis? If so, then, what a naïve and unprofessional plot!
Dr.Kishan was no ordinary government official. In many ways, he was a symbol of the young and resurgent Manipur that is trying to come out of the clutches of the endless violence the state is besieged with. A topper in English literature both at undergraduate and graduate level from Jamia Milia Islamia University, did his M.Phil from Delhi University. He started his teaching career at Delhi’s Shyam Lal College. But his urge to serve his own state of Manipur, made him give up that job and join D.M. College at Imphal. From there, he moved to Manipur University as a lecturer. Then he took the Manipur Civil Service Examination and joined the Administration. He had founded “Centre for Alternative Discourse” a research foundation and was editor “Alternative Perspectives” a scholarly journal which has created a niche for itself among the intellectual circle. Each issue of this perspective journal would carry an incisive essay by Dr.Kishan and topics ranged from critiquing India’s Look East Policy to the economics of underdevelopment. He was one of those few who could successfully get out of the groove of localized thinking and relate his vision to happenings not only in this region but also in the wider world. In his death Manipur has lost an intellectual and an able young administrator who dared to do what he considered to be right. A tragedy of unfathomable depth!
Interestingly Hopson Ningsen has assumed such importance that on being produced before CJM Ukhrul on May 29,2009 for being remanded into the custody of CBI, he was not taken to the court, rather the court was taken to him that too within the precincts of Imphal airport for security reasons. Whose security against whom? Possibly for personal safety of the prime accused from being lynched by the public. Only the other day on May 25 people had observed the 119th death anniversary of legendary Pukhrambam Kajao who was hanged by the British for killing Mr. Grimwood, the then Political Agent of Manipur in 1891 with a spear in a public gathering. One cannot rule out such a fate is not awaiting Hopson Ningsen if he is not closely protected (Z Plus?). CBI is questioning the prime accused in the safe zone of Delhi away from the reach of ordinary Manipuri. Do we then conclude that his trial will also be held in Delhi?
Now that the main accused of the crime Hopson Ningsen is in the custody of CBI, are we on the justice track? If so,to what extent? NSCN(IM) has been enjoying a cease fire agreement with the centre for a decade now. A number of peace talks have been held and no apparent headway has been made so far, the stumbling block being NSCN(IM)’s demand for breaking up of the North East and creating Greater Nagaland at the cost of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. Meanwhile Government of India continues its policy of appeasement towards the militant outfit. Although the cease fire agreement is to be restricted within the geographical boundary of Nagaland, it has been informally extended to Manipur and the Army turns a blind eye to NSCN(IM)’s freedom of operation. The heinous crime of the triple murder of Dr.Kishan and his staff is a glaring outcome of this freedom. Further the NSCN(IM)’s unhindered extortion in terms of crores a month from Imphal bound commercial vehicles along NH-39, the only practicable lifeline of Manipur has made the cost of living in Imphal higher than “A Class” cities of the country. In short, the Government of India has practically let loose the NSCN(IM) on the hapless people of Manipur and given the outfit the liberty to extort at will and to kill at will.
Having said this, what if CBI is to come down heavily on Hopson Ningsen and his ilks, makes a watertight case against them and death sentence is on the way? Won’t it have a direct bearing on Government of India’s policy of appeasement towards the militant outfit? What if the outfit takes offence to Government of India’s interference in day to day mundane activity of extortion and killing and it decides to abrogate the cease fire agreement and start the bush war all over again? Delhi is definitely in an unenviable position, a dilemma of catastrophic dimensions. Only time will tell whether or not justice will be done in its true spirit to the heinous crime of bludgeoning to death Dr. Kishan, SDO and his two staff. Or will it only be justice smacked with politics?