BSF bows to masses'pressure, hands over 5 held' persons

IMPHAL, April 24: Five persons have been handed over to Singhat police station in Churachandpur district of Manipur by the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, police said today. Four civilians and a People's Liberation Army (PLA) cadre were handed over to Singhat police station on Sunday night, the police said. Earlier, Manipur Human Rights Commission (MHRC) had set a deadline of 24 hours for the Manipur Director General of Police (DGP) to locate the whereabouts of four persons believed to have been arrested by BSF personnel after an encounter. The deadline expired yesterday noon, an MHRC statement said. The four, all small traders, were said to have been arrested by the BSF after an encounter between the BSF and an unidentified insurgent group at Hengtam area in Churachandpur district on April 14, and flown to an unknown destination in a helicopter, it said. The MHRC directive came April 22 on a complaint lodged by one W Manitomba of Imphal West district. BSF sources in Imphal said they had no information about the arrests, and they would contact their Churachandpur centre. When contacted, BSF sources at Churachandpur asked this correspondent to contact the Imphal office for the information. No senior official was available for comment. In his complaint, Manitomba said his younger brother W Shanou (36), M Kunjabati Devi (50), his son Praksh (28) and one K Sanayaima Singh of Bishbupur district had gone to Hentam village on April 14 in connection with their business. He said their whereabouts were unknown till a report appeared in some local papers that they were arrested from Hentam during an encounter between BSF and insurgents. MHRC members Yambem Laba, K Chonjohn Singh and Lisam Rabindra Singh observed that no arrest memos were given not were they 'handed over to the police.