Senior journalist and social entrepreneur Mr. Yambem Laba shares his experience during his times as a member of the State Human Rights Commission in this episode. He recalls about the controversial incident where a man was shot dead by the 17th Assam Rifles division acting beyond jurisdiction where the information was kept hidden from the public and from the wife of the victim. It was only after the intervention of the Human Rights Commission that the authorities started investigation and the whereabouts of the victim. These kinds of cases had been happening in certain parts of India where AFSPA was imposed. Owing to the intervention of the Human Rights Commission, it was the last time a man arrested by the army disappeared in Manipur. During his tenure at the commission, Mr. Yambem Laba has helped solve a number of problems faced by the people and bring justice by using the power of the media as a force multiplier.

He says that although the Human Rights Commission might not have been able to send the perpetrators of the crime behind bars in every case, the issues of the victims was brought to notice to the public at large and the

perpetrators were identified as a human rights violator. By this account, he was able to turn the commission into a “Poor Man’s Court”. The senior journalist also says that he was the person who came up with the idea of nose-feeding Irom Sharmila after she took up her resolution to fast unto death “Sharmila, Don’t die for Manipur. Stay alive for Manipur”, were the words he said to the iron lady in order to persuade her to stay alive and keep fighting.