- (1.) These two writ petitions, each filed under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, raise some disquieting issues pertaining to the State of Manipur. In writ petition (criminal) No.129 of 2012, it is stated that, over the years, a large number of people, Indian citizens, have been killed by the Manipur Police and other security forces while they were in custody or in stage-managed encounters or in ways broadly termed as 'extra- judicial executions'. In writ petition (civil) No.445 of 2012, it is stated that for a very long time, the State of Manipur is declared as "disturbed area" and is put under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, subverting the civil rights of the citizens of the State and making it possible for the security forces to kill innocent persons with impunity.
(2.) In this order, we deal with the first writ petition, i.e., writ petition (criminal) No.129/2012.
(3.) In this writ petition it is stated that during the period May, 1979 to May, 2012, 1528 people were killed in Manipur in extra-judicial execution. The statement is mainly based on a memorandum prepared by 'Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights in Manipur and the UN' and submitted to one Christof Heyns, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mission to India, 19-30 March, 2012. The Memorandum compiles the list of 1528 people allegedly killed unlawfully by the State Police or the security forces. The writ petitioners later on filed "Compilation 1" and "Compilation 2". In "Compilation 1" details are given of ten (10) cases relating to the killings of eleven (11) persons (out of the list of 1528); in "Compilation 2", similarly details are given of thirteen (13) cases in which altogether seventeen (17) persons (out of the list of 1528) are alleged to have been killed in extra judicial executions.;