IMPHAL, Nov 17 : The Imphal Bench of the Gauhati High Court yesterday sent a notice to the chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), New Delhi, to be relayed to the Centre and Manipur Government for disclosure of the whereabouts of UNLF chairman RK Meghen who has disappeared after being reportedly arrested from Bangladesh on September 29 last.
The wife of the rebel leader, RK Ibemnungshi, had filed a writ petition in the Imphal Bench of the Gauhati High Court on October 29 seeking information of her husband’s whereabouts.
The two judge bench headed by Justice TNK and Justice AC Upadhyaya observed that the UNLF chief was “arrested by a combined team of Indian intelligence agency RAW and their Bangladeshi counterpart from Lalmatia area of Dhaka under Mohammadpur Police Station” as stated by news agencies.
Meghen’s wife had earlier filed a writ petition on October 14 last to the chairman of NHRC for necessary direction to the Government of India and the State Government for disclosing the whereabouts of her husband; but no action was taken by the said authorities, observed the Court. Representation was also filed to the United Nations Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR) on October 17.
And given the “strong allegations” in the writ petition against the State Government as well as the Union of India and the NHRC, the Court invited instruction regarding the allegations from the counsels appearing for the accused in the form of an affidavit.
The alleged disappearance of UNLF chief RK Meghen has become a major public issue in Manipur. If the boycott of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s recent visit to the State is any indication, voices of dissent are likely to get stronger in the coming days. The fact that Sonia played safe by refusing to comment on the issue has irked the people further who were waiting to be reassured that their grievances will be looked into.
~ AT
