( 1 ) THE High Court of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh, in its Imphal Bench, allowed the habeas corpus petition filed by the first respondent and awarded a sum of rupees one lakh to her, having found that her husband had been last seen in the custody of the security forces and had not been produced.

( 2 ) THE locale of the events that gave rise to the writ petition is the State of Manipur, a disturbed area in which the security forces had been deployed to maintain law and order. It was the case of the first respondent that her husband Budha Singh had been taken away by army personnel on 6-11-1983. Budha Singhs brother Pishak Singh had on 7-11-1983 visited the army camp concerned and enquired about Budha Singh but no information was given to him. The brother informed the first respondent of this and a complaint was lodged with the officer in charge of Lamlai Police Station. Various attempts to locate Budha Singh were thereafter made, but to no effect. In December 1983 the writ petition was filed.

( 3 ) THE writ petition was heard 5 years later, but no trace of Budha Singh had been found.

( 4 ) THE case of the appellants was that on 6-11-1