Home Ministry sets up 3-member high powered panel to probe Manipur violence

The Commission will be headed by former Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court, Justice Ajai Lamba

The Home Ministry on Sunday announced the setting up of a 3-member high-powered Commission of Inquiry to probe the incidents of violence in Manipur. The Commission will be headed by former Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court, Justice Ajai Lamba. The other members of the high-level panel are former IAS officer Himanshu Shekhar Das and former IPS officer Aloka Prabhakar.

HS Das, a 1982 Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS officer has served as the Finance Secretary of Assam, Commissioner and Secretary, Cultural Affairs Department, Government of Assam, and State Chief Information Commissioner, Assam.

Prabhakar, a 1986 Telengana cadre IPS officer, has served as Additional Director and Special Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB).

The terms of reference of the Commission includes it would look into the causes and spread of the violence and riots targeting members of different communities which took place in Manipur on May 3.

The Commission would probe the sequence of events leading to and all the facts relating to the violence, if there were any lapses or dereliction of duty on the part of the any of the responsible authorities or individuals.

The Commission would also investigate if the administrative measures taken to prevent and deal with the violence and the riots were adequate, the official statement announcing the setting up of the Inquiry Commission said.

The Commission will also entertain any complaints or allegations made before it by any individual or association.

The Commission has been given six months time to submit its report to the Centre. The Commission would operate from Imphal.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had on June 1 after the end of his 4-day Manipur visit from May29 to June 1, said that a judicial inquiry under a retired Gauhati High Court Chief Justice would be set up to probe the incidents of violence that took place on May 3 in Manipur and had rocked the state since.

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