Protest hits Manipur courts

Lawyers stay away to support sit-in against ‘encounter’

Imphal, Jan 2 : Courts in Manipur were thrown out of gear today as lawyers stayed away from work to show solidarity with employees who have been protesting the killing of one of their colleagues in an “encounter”. A combined team of police and Assam Rifles gunned down 39-year-old Ningombam Gopal Singh, a Grade IV employee of the Imphal bench of Gauhati High Court, near Heinoubok village in Imphal West on December 23. The police said Gopal Singh was a suspected member of the Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak. A 9mm pistol was found on him. The outfit, however, clarified that the man was not a cadre and accused the combined forces of killing an innocent man in custody. The High Court Employees Association today staged a sit-in on the premises of the Imphal bench of Gauhati High Court demanding an inquiry into the killing. Members of the High Court Bar Association suspended work to express their support. “There are claims that the police in civil clothes took away Gopal Singh from near his home that day. On the other hand, the police said he was killed in an encounter. So we demand a high-level inquiry into the matter to find out the truth,” the general secretary of the association, S. Samungou, said. He cautioned the government that the employees would launch an agitation if there was no response to their demand for a probe. S. Jayenta Singh, president of the High Court Bar Association, said it was a shocking incident and the authorities should “clear up” the matter. Lawyers did not attend the lower courts either, after the All Manipur Bar Association took a decision to that effect. “We protest the killing of people under such controversial circumstances. Therefore, we decided to stay away from the courts today,” Kh. Mani Singh, the former president of the bar association, said.