Murder of a young journalist

A young journalist Konsam Rishikanta Singh in Manipur . He was killed on 17 November 2008 near Second Sangai Home, Langol Hill range by unknown armed personnel suspected to security forces. Not even twenty, Konsam was Junior Sub-editor, Imphal Free Press and was also pursuing B.Sc. 1st Year, Standard College, Kongba. The autopsy conducted at the morgue of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences stated that the body bored three bullet injuries one below the chin and two at the chest. He belonged to a very ordinary family. His father holds a Diploma in Electrical Engineering but is unemployed and mother is a housewife.
He has two unmarried sisters. He was good in studies, hard-working and was an idealistic person. He dropped out from college in the year 2007 so that his sister could continue her studies without isturbances. He demise has caused great irreparable loss to the family.
The killing of the young, energetic, struggling and dedicated journalist Konsam Rishikanta Singh in Manipur, supposedly by the bullets of the Armed Force personnel, is another sad and condemnable incidence on the face of Indian democracy. No one knows how many innocent people these defence personnel have killed in their bloodthirsty way. What is even more hurting and serious is the manner in which these forces behave in the aftermath of such incidents. Instead of taking the responsibility and iterating their commitment to take the guilty personas to task, these forces believe in the only policy they know best- " to out rightly reject such accusations and to start cribbing about the poor, hostile and tough conditions in which they are forced to work".
The end result is always that the poor and helpless people are forced to keep their mouth shut and to accept their fate as it is. This has happened so many times and this might happen again in the case of Konsam Rishikanta. Thus, it is very important that all of us, who are in any way, concerned with the Human Rights activities and are in the field of intellectual field and social justice, musty join hands together and resist such one-sided extreme highhandedness and outlandish/ criminal behaviour of the Armed personnel and must struggle to get the accused punished.
On 18 November 2008, the All Manipur Working Journalist Union (AMWJU) held an emergency meeting at the Manipur Press Club and condemned the killing. In the afternoon, a silent rally was taken out and a memorandum was submitted to the Chief Minster of Manipur with the following demands:
Constitute a judicial inquiry to find out and punish the culprit(s) Award compensation to the bereaved family as per center's scheme for victims of terrorist violence. Ensure a sense of security in the minds of journalist and take necessary measures for protection of the working journalists of the State. But so far the Government of Manipur has not come out with any concrete steps, I fully agree with the three demands put forth by the Manipur Journalist association. But it seems to me that even more important is the basic requirement of registering an FIR in this regards, if it has not already been registered, as per the free will of the slain journalist's family members. It is only then the wheel of law will start moving at all. (Dr Nutan Thakur)