Besidents of Irong Chesaba in Imphal West district, Manipur came out in large numbers protesting against the killing of a local youth by the Assam Rifles on October 15.

According to the residents, the youth, a Class XI student of a local high school, had gone for a walk with his aunt in the evening, when they were intercepted by the Assam Rifles personnel. The boy was picked up by the army, beaten and then shot dead.

This is yet another of the countless incidents that occur almost every day in Manipur, where the armed forces regularly pick up, torture and kill innocent youth and people, branding them as ‘suspected terrorists’. The draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which allows the army a free hand to commit such atrocities and get away scot-free, continues to remain in force in Manipur despite repeated protests voicing the popular demand that this Act should be revoked and the army removed from all civilian areas of the state.

People's Voice condemns the atrocities on people by the armed forces in Manipur and calls on people all over the country to join in demanding that the AFSPA should immediately be revoked and the killing of innocent people in the name of ‘curbing terrorism’ be stopped.