Travellers journey along a street in Imphal in the northeastern state of Manipur. -AFP/File Photo

NEW DELHI: India's top court Monday ordered the federal government to respond to allegations that more than 1,500 people have been killed by security forces in an insurgency-hit northeastern state since 1978.

The Supreme Court, which has also ordered the Manipur state government to respond, was acting on a petition filed by a group representing families of 1,528 men, women and children allegedly “executed” by security forces.

The 410-page petition asks for the setting up of a special investigation team comprising of police officers “of integrity” to probe the killings in the tiny state that “should shock the conscience of the entire nation”.

“The governments have to respond to the allegations in the petition,” Colin Gonsalves, lawyer for the group, told AFP, adding the case would come up again before the Supreme Court on November 4.

The petition is the latest effort in a fight by activists in revolt-racked, heavily militarised Manipur to halt what they say are extra-judicial killings under a law that gives sweeping powers and immunity to security forces.

Alleged victims named in the petition include a 19-year-old man who went to get his scooter fixed and whose body turned up at the morgue with torture marks.

It also mentions a 22-year-old who went looking for a missing cow on his bicycle and was found shot dead.

“We want a proper investigation into these deaths. We need recognition that these people were innocent, these killings must stop,” Babloo Loitongbam, head of Manipur-based Human Rights Alert, said.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act enables security forces to shoot on sight and arrest anybody without a warrant to deal with insurgencies in some northeast states and in Kashmir in the north.

The act has been attacked by human rights groups such as Amnesty International, which says it is a stain on India's democratic credentials.

Earlier this year, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Christof Heyns, called the alleged killings a matter “of serious concern”.

The Indian government says it needs the special powers act to protect security forces facing heavily armed militants.

But Loitongbam, who is also a lawyer, said the act has “created an ecology that facilitates killing” in which security forces are encouraged with special awards and promotions to kill innocent people and claim they are militants.

He said the 1,528 alleged victims cited in the petition “is not an exhaustive list, it's just those people whose details we've been able to gather”.

Manipur, which borders Myanmar, is home to 2.5 million people and a myriad of separatist insurgent groups. At least 10,000 people have died during the last three decades of violence, rights groups say.