by Rajeesh Kollakkandi on August 5, 2009
Imphal, Sunday, 2 August 2009:
 |
 |
| 1. Chongkham Sanjit, 27, is seen standing in a PCO with the Manipur Police Commandos adjacent to a pharmacy (marked by an arrow) in Imphal on July 23 | 2. Though surrounded by commandos, there is no obvious resistance from Sanjit (marked by a red circle)) |
 |
 |
 |
| 3. Sanjit is seen calmly walking away with the heavily armed commandos |
4. While a commando reaches for his pistol, Sanjit remains visibly calm. They are standing barely 500 metres from the state assembly | 5. Sanjit, known to be a former member of the People’s Liberation Army, had retired on health grounds. Though surrounded, he is calm and there seems to be no urgency or imminent violence in the picture |
 |
 |
| 6. In a sudden turn of events, Sanjit is hustled away roughly by the commandos |
7. Sanjit is dragged by the commandos into the pharmacy. He has been surrounded by commandos for several minutes and is obviously unarmed |
 |
 |
| 8. A few minutes later, commandos drag Sanjit’s dead body out of the pharmacy |
9. Sanjit’s body is thrown into a truck. At no point while the camera was clicking had he offered any resistance to the commandos |
 |
|
| 10. Sanjit’s dead body on the truck. The camera continues to click. The commandos make no attempt to stop the public gaze | |
 |
 |
| 11. The body of Rabina Devi, a pregnant bystander. She was killed a few metres away in the police firing when they chased a fleeing youth | 12. Sanjit’s body on a stretcher.His family claims he had broken his earlier links with the militants and was leading a normal life |
| Tehalka | |
In Manipur, death comes easy. In this damning sequence of photos, a local photographer captures the death of a young man, killed in a false encounter by the police in broad daylight, 500 metres from the state assembly. How can a State justify such a war against its own people, asks TERESA REHMANIF ANY picture can speak a thousand words, these photos — available exclusively to TEHELKA — could fill volumes. They capture a shootout that happened in the heart of Imphal, Manipur’s capital, barely 500 metres from the state assembly, on July 23. They show the moments before, during and after the ‘encounter killing’ of a 27-year-old Indian citizen – a young man called Chongkham Sanjit, shot dead by a heavily-armed detachment from Manipur’s Rapid Action Police Force, commonly known as the Manipur Police Commandos (MPC). Read the rest of this entry »
Lalgarh 