No one can sit on judgement over firing on LoC, Mukul Rohatgi tells Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: No can sit in judgement over firing by armed forces manning the Line of Control or deaths in anti-insurgency operations, the governmentsaid in the Supreme Court, resisting any probe by the National Human Rights Commission into alleged fake encounters involving army and paramilitary personnel in Manipur.

“No one can say that the government or the Army does not respect human rights,” Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told a bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit on Wednesday, insisting that the central government should be able to make the final call on any such allegations. He said it would be judicially improper to determine the genuineness of an encounter in a militancy-affected area.

Reacting to his remarks, Justice Lokur said: “We are not talking about the LoC. Encounters have taken place in the heart of Imphal. Somebody comes and fires at somebody … Someone who comes to rob a person cannot just be shot dead.”

Families of some of those killed in Manipur in alleged fake encounters had demanded a probe by a special investigation team after NHRC awarded them only compensation. The human rights body had then said that it was toothless and could only ask the government for a report under the law and not probe such allegations. On Wednesday, however, NHRC, through senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, said it could conduct a probe.

The AG resisted this. NHRC is only a recommendatory body and cannot probe alleged excesses by armed personnel and the court cannot expand its powers to allow it to do this, Rohatgi said. “It (such a probe) is going to have a deleterious effect on the armed forces whether it is in Manipur, J&K or any other place where there is militancy,” he said.

The armed forces stand on a different footing, the AG argued. NHRC can only seek a report and make recommendations for awarding compensation, he insisted. That report was not binding on the government which may or may not accept it.

He urged the court to desist from adopting any other course, pointing out that the action taken reports are eventually tabled in Parliament. “We are accountable to Parliament. Parliament is the supreme body reflecting the will of people.”