The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights (KOHUR) has petitioned Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), seeking the transfer of 64 Myanmar nationals of Kuki ethnicity from the Imphal Central Jail to “temporary prisons” in the Kuki-dominated districts of the State.
In a separate memoranda addressed to Mr. Bhalla and NHRC Chairperson, Justice V. Ramasubramanian, on July 25, the rights organisation raised serious constitutional and humanitarian concerns over the continued detention of the Myanmar nationals. It highlighted the case of two of them, who have remained in jail despite completing their sentences.
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The KOHUR said the detention of the Myanmar nationals was a “grave violation” of Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty, and a breach of international human rights conventions to which India is a signatory.
The organisation referred to earlier gubernatorial notifications that permitted the relocation of Indian Kuki under-trial prisoners from Imphal and other sensitive zones to temporary prisons in the Kuki-dominated districts, such as Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, and Tengnoupal.
