The Hindu : National : Army moves High Court in Manorama Devi case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 06, 2004

National

National

Army moves High Court in Manorama Devi case

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, OCT. 5. The Army has said that it moved the Guwahati High Court today in the Manorama Devi ``rape and killing'' episode in order ``to expeditiously establish the whole truth.'' It approached the higher court after the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal, turned down its request for matching the DNA samples of the 33 personnel of Assam Rifles, including two officers, with the semen stains found on the petticoat of the victim. The rape and killing of Manorama allegedly by the Assam Rifles personnel sparked widespread protests in Manipur against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that provides considerable immunity to security personnel engaged in counter-insurgency operations.

According to senior officers here, the Army wanted the High Court to instruct the authorities to allow the matching of the DNA samples with the semen stains discovered during the second post-mortem examination. It claims that both the post-mortem examination reports were negative in all respects. In the second report, however, an observation was made about the semen stains.

Following the report, the Army ``immediately'' ordered blood sampling of the personnel involved, at the Regional Institute of Medical Science, Imphal, in the presence of seven civilian doctors.

These samples were deposited with the Central Forensic Laboratory, Kolkata, on September 2 and have since been lying there for matching of the DNA with the semen stains.

The Army's request for the matching of the DNA was turned down by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Imphal on grounds of jurisdiction.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National