The search for that elusive bird of fairness has often led Manipuris to the doorstep of Yambem Laba
"We know he will initiate some action, that is why we come here. In this state, nothing else works," says Binodini Devi, who has come from the outskirts of capital Imphal to meet Laba and complain against her nephew who is trying to grab her only piece of land. "Please file a complaint with the local thana first. If they don’t act, only then you come to me," Laba gently advises her.
Another elderly gentleman has come looking for help in trying to track down his missing son. "I don’t know where he is after the police detained him two months ago," the hapless father informs Laba, who notes down the facts, consults some of the previous judgements and precedents and proceeds to type on his weather-beaten Olympus typewriter a showcause notice to the state police.
For nearly five years now, Laba, a journalist-turned-human rights activist, has struggled against all odds to keep the MHRC flag flying by pronouncing judgements, passing orders and sending show-cause notices to every arm of the government. Everyone, from rickshaw-pullers to former chief ministers, makes a beeline to his house to get justice, pure and simple.
Laba has a broad-spectrum view of civil rights. "We have extended to the fullest the meaning of human rights. Earlier, only encounter deaths used to be treated as human rights violations. Today, we have brought the right to education, right to healthcare, right to good roads under the purview of human rights." His suo motu action of sending notices to almost every department of the government for failure to implement schemes meant for common people keeps the administration on its toes.
Manipur, with its 40-year history of continuous conflict, has always had cases of human rights violations such as fake encounters, forced disappearances, custodial deaths, rapes, torture, assault. Most of the human rights activists concentrated on fighting these. The MHRC, which was formed after tremendous public pressure in 1998, also took up these cases, but at the same time consciously attempted a paradigm shift.
"By giving space to the common citizen to voice his grievances concerning the most basic issues like right to safe drinking water, right to good roads etc we have tried to make the public servants more accountable. Today no civil servant can take his duties lightly, thanks to the flood of complaints that we get from the common people," Laba says with justifiable pride.
And yet, the MHRC is on the verge of collapse for lack of monetary support and official apathy. Laba and his colleagues do not even have support staff for want of funds. Even members like Laba, who are of cabinet rank in terms of protocol, have not got their salary for months. Laba has an official car but has to pay for petrol out of his own pocket. There has been no full-time chairman after the earlier chairman retired in June. With the five-year term of the MHRC coming to an end in December, no one knows if the state government will re-notify the commission.
Whether the MHRC gets a new lease of life or not, one thing is sure: Laba will continue to fight for people’s rights. "It has got into my blood. I cannot do anything else now," he says. The daily morning rush at his house is a testimony to the fact that people trust him, need him. Contact Laba at Manipur Human Rights Commission, Imphal. Phone: 2410472, 2410869.