The local photographer who captured damning evidence of a fake encounter in Imphal chose not to publish the photographs in the Manipur press. Why?
Thokcham Rabina Devi, a pregnant young woman, and Chungkham Sanjit, a former insurgent, were killed in the space of an hour on 23 July in the middle of Khwairamband, the largest marketplace in Imphal. This was hardly unique for Manipur, a state that has seen an average of two or three individuals killed every day over the years. From 1996 until 17 August 2009, the count is 4561 reported to have been killed in the conflict between the Indian government and the numerous armed separatist groups in Manipur.
The lack of subsequent interest taken by either the state or national government in the 23 July killings was also hardly surprising. This did not change when Sanjit's family protested that he had merely gone out to buy medicine, and no longer had links with underground groups; nor over the cries of two-and-a-half-year-old Russel for his mother, whom he had watched being gunned down. The day of the killing itself, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh declared in the state assembly that there had been "no option but to kill" insurgents such as Sanjit, in order to check the insurgency in the state. He made no mention of Rabina, who was evidently caught in the crossfire, seven months pregnant at the time of her death.
As with all other such killings, the local media faithfully followed the events, from the bandhs to the teargas shells aimed to kill. The national media, meanwhile, was conspicuous by its silence. Then, in August, 12 photographs were published in Tehelka, the Delhi-based investigative weekly, which were quickly picked up and reproduced by the Manipuri press on 2 August. These seemed to firmly establish what was already being whispered: fake encounter. The effect was cataclysmic. National and international media organisations immediately began talking about the Manipur killings, and the record of the police force in India generally was suddenly brought into question. Locally, the photographs re-galvanised the public agitation over the 23 July killing, which by then had started to mute itself due to the government's delay tactics and imposition of curfew.