Imphal: Indefinite curfew was imposed in Imphal in Manipur after increasing protests over an alleged fake encounter which was captured on camera.
The police appear to have killed Chongkham Sanjit in cold blood and now demands are growing for the resignation of the Chief Minister Ibobi Singh.
While the police insist he was an armed terrorist, the photographs tell a different story. Human Rights Watch has called it a break down of the rule of law.
Imphal burned over the fake encounter killing of Chongkham Sanjit by police Commandos.
Just when the agitation was losing its sting, protesters again clashed with the police on Tuesday. And they are not ready to settle for nothing less than the resignation of Chief Minister Ibobi Singh and punishment for the erring police personnel.
The rage erupted on the streets on Monday after pictures of the accused were made public. These pictures were taken by a local photographer that show how Manipur police Commandos killed Sanjit in cold blood.
The police records, however, say Sanjit was a terrorist and was armed during the encounter.
"I guess the photographs put that into perspective and almost contradicts what the police has been saying," said Rupachandra Singh , an eyewitness and a journalist.
Sanjit's family says he was once part of a militant group. But for years now he had been working as a security guard with no connection to militancy.
"Ibobi doesn't know how to run administration. He should quit. Till our demand is met, we will not perform the last rites for our son," said Sanjit's mother Chongkham.
The Human Rights Watch call the Manipur situation a breakdown of the rule of law.
It says the cause is the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that gives security personnel the authority to search, arrest and shoot-to-kill and protects them from prosecution.
The much-abused act throws up an endless list of cases in which innocent citizens have been killed by security personnel to make a case that the state has insurgency under control.
Such is the distrust in police and security forces that many citizen groups have started paying money to militants for protection, triggering off another cycle of bloodshed in a land already ravaged by decades of insurgency.