Against standing order of SC Demolished houses at CCpur
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Not likely that Imphal will take up any action against the utter indifference or disregard to the standing instruction of the Supreme Court of India to protect the properties of internally displaced people but the fact stands that localities, which were earlier homes of Meitei folks at Churachandpur, have been left untended and in a state of ‘free for all.’ As the picture carried with the news story ‘Permit of Hill Council needed to fence Meitei localities’ showed, barren fields or grounds are all that is left to show for the houses which once stood as homes of the Meitei community at different localities in Churachandpur including Tengra Meitei Leikai. Thanks to a proactive Manipur Human Rights Commission under its Chairperson Justice UB Saha, the facts have now come to light and what is more astounding is the response of a district level official who is reported to have said that due permission from the ‘Hill Council’ would be needed to fence the properties which stand in the name of the Meitei community. This is the reality that is Manipur today and The Sangai Express has been at the forefront in carrying stories of the displaced people from Churachandpur and Moreh, all stories and recollections filed with the Manipur Human Rights Commission, and so far there is no report of any response from the side of either New Delhi or Imphal and this is what is disconcerting. Now it is against the standing order of the Supreme Court, which on September 25, 2023, had asked the Government of Manipur ensure the protection of the properties left behind by the internally displaced persons, after ethnic violence erupted in all its ugliness in the evening of May 3, 2023. The order of the Supreme Court was simple enough. Prevent encroachment on the properties left behind by the fleeing people and significant to note that even after the order from the Supreme Court came, a four storey house belonging to a Meitei was blown up and levelled to the ground, the video shot of which went viral on the social media in July this year. In between was yet another video clip of some people of Churachandpur trying to set up shop plum in front of the demolished and levelled to the ground houses at Churachandpur and this is a side of the story which has not been given much importance by the so called liberal and Left leaning media houses of mainland India. This could be the reason why a report carried by a prominent media house, which purportedly carries the voice clip of the Chief Minister exposing his supposed involvement in the ongoing violence, find little takers amongst the people of Manipur. Coming back to Churachandpur and the unten- ded properties, read landed properties, left behind by the fleeing Meiteis, August 21, 2024 was not the first date that the MHRC Chairperson had visited the place. Nearly a year back, the Chairperson had taken a first hand report of the situation at Chura-chandpur on August 30, 2023 and back then he had instructed that due measures be taken up to ensure that the properties left behind by the fleeing folks are given due protection.
After the Supreme Court ordered that the properties left behind by the internally displaced persons must be protected on September 25, 2023, the State Government had fallen in line and issued strong instructions that anyone found usurping or destro- ying properties of left behind by those who had fled the conflict zones would be strongly dealt with but as things stand today, it is clear that the order of the Supreme Court as well as the standing directive of the State Government have had no takers. On the contrary the instruction of the MHRC Chairperson to fence the left behind landed properties was met with the response, ‘Permission of the Hill Council needed to fence Meitei localities.’ More than enough indication that rule of law is being flouted with impunity and when a standing order of the Supreme Court is met with the line ‘Permission of the Hill Council needed’, then one may ask what Delhi and Imphal intend to do ? It should be more than clear that the Government has totally failed Manipur but it is not clear whether this bare, minimum fact has registered in the consciousness of the political leaders at Imphal or not. That the need to raise this question should arise at this point of time should tell so many stories and this should more than say whether Imphal and Delhi have managed to deal with the situation or not.
After the Supreme Court ordered that the properties left behind by the internally displaced persons must be protected on September 25, 2023, the State Government had fallen in line and issued strong instructions that anyone found usurping or destro- ying properties of left behind by those who had fled the conflict zones would be strongly dealt with but as things stand today, it is clear that the order of the Supreme Court as well as the standing directive of the State Government have had no takers. On the contrary the instruction of the MHRC Chairperson to fence the left behind landed properties was met with the response, ‘Permission of the Hill Council needed to fence Meitei localities.’ More than enough indication that rule of law is being flouted with impunity and when a standing order of the Supreme Court is met with the line ‘Permission of the Hill Council needed’, then one may ask what Delhi and Imphal intend to do ? It should be more than clear that the Government has totally failed Manipur but it is not clear whether this bare, minimum fact has registered in the consciousness of the political leaders at Imphal or not. That the need to raise this question should arise at this point of time should tell so many stories and this should more than say whether Imphal and Delhi have managed to deal with the situation or not.