By Donn Morgan Kipgen
"Look before you leap; think twice before you hit." - Anon
Not many citizens of the nation have taken the Law unto their own hands like here in Manipur. It is not a redefinition of Might is Right but it's a new dictum of "Mob is Right" in this UG-infested state. Yes, enraged mob who indulged in all those mindless violent activities knew that they would get away with them, taking into account the unlawful but locally justified mob violences of the past as an example of "Mob is Right’s Civil Law", and not connected to Civil Rights' Law.
More often than not, the destructive mobs were irresponsibly led by local authority or NGO like armed forces units on combat search, locate and destroy military operations during peacetime conflicts as allowed by the Geneva and Hague Conventions.
But then all these highly sensitive combat missions were carried out by the regular army against hostile forces or enemies hideouts, camps, huts, bunkers, etc., after gun-battles or based on hard intelligence inputs with physical evidences. In friendly areas, all armed forces officers have to strictly adhere & exercise all the Do's & Don'ts' Manual Instructions to prevent any liable complaints of Human Rights' Violation court cases. Even the State law enforcement agencies were not given due professional respects by the volatile mob-backed local authority members and political leaders while breaking the law with impunity in Manipur. The mindless burning and complete destruction of an accused criminal by the enraged mob without any justifiable physical evidences nor eye-witnessed circumstantial evidence, which also outrageously affected neighbouring houses on regular basis, are simply unacceptable nor justifiable under any pretext.
Even the US Marines and the 'chopper-borne US Army's Sparrow Hawks para-commandos' search & destroy lawful missions, backed by the Doctrine of Mass-Fire power combat assaults, during the Vietnam War came into high criticism after the infamous My Lai-4 Massacre in March, 1968.
To justify any deadly or destructive mob violent activity is way too far outside any court of law system. A law enforcement case is strictly to be dealt with by the police and the paramilitary forces, and certainly not by any local authority and NGO. Yes, violent protest and dharnas without using destruct-forces are quite understandable though unacceptable.
Remember the Nongbrang Incident of December, 2009? Two Kuki students who came on Christmas leave to Bongbal Khollen were mercilessly hacked to death by enraged mob and brazenly labelled them as Kuki Militants to temporarily justify their most brutal crime, after which a peace-agreement was duly signed with due apology.
So, what's the use of committing a crime with cocksure allegations only to compromise and retract their stances once the factual truth is out?
This article was published on The Sangai Express.