Supreme Court Passes Several Directions on Manipur Crisis: What are They?

The top court has been hearing multiple petitions regarding the outbreak of violence in Manipur.

Imphal: Women stage a protest over sexual violence against females in Manipur, in Imphal, Friday, July 21, 2023

(Photo: PTI)

The Supreme Court on Monday, 7 August, passed a series of directions in connection with multiple pleas filed regarding the outbreak of violence in Manipur.

The directions: A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, while affirming that said:

1) A panel of three ex-High Court judges including Justice Gita Mittal (former CJ of J&K High Court), Justice Shalini Joshi, Justice Asha Menon will look into relief, rehab measures

2) CBI teams will have officers from outside Manipur

3) A retired IPS officer will supervise CBI probe and report back to the court

4) For state-level investigations, the Court said that it will ask to include at least one inspector from other State Police forces.

5) Further, the State SITs will be supervised by 6 DIG rank officers who are from outside Manipur.

SC Pulls Up Police: This development follows the top court pulling up the state police on 1 August for their lack of action while controlling the situation in the state.

"State police is incapable of investigation. Absolutely.. There is no law and order left at all," CJI Chandrachud had remarked during the previous hearing, according to Bar and Bench.

The top court had also noted that the number of arrests were very low despite there being over 6,000 first information reports (FIRs).

"The investigation is so lethargic. No arrests made. Statements being recorded after such lapse of time. this gives an impression that there was no law and breakdown of constitutional machinery. May be it is correct that arrest could not be made because police could not enter the locality.. but even then there was complete breakdown of law and order," the CJI further said.

SC's strong remarks: Over the course of the previous hearings, which,   the court pulled up Advocate Bansuri Swaraj, who had filed a plea to consider cases from West Bengal and Chhattisgarh where women were also mistreated by mobs.

 "We are dealing with something on unprecedented magnitude of violence against women in communal and sectarian violence. It cannot be gainsaid that crimes are happening against woman and in Bengal also. But here the case is different. We cannot justify what happened in Manipur by saying that this and this happened elsewhere," CJI Chandrachud had said, according to Bar and Bench.

To know more about what else the top court said about Manipur, read this.

While the petitioners had sought an SIT probe into the sexual violence against them, the court did not immediately pass an order and contemplated forming a committee to look into the case.

"We need objective assistance. One thing we can do is to have a committee of woman judges and domain experts or to have a committee of woman and male judges. If we are not satisfied with what has been done so far that will define the extent of our intervention," the Court said, according to Bar and Bench.

Previously: The top court had taken suo motu cognisance of a disturbing video that emerged online, showing two Manipuri women from the Kuki tribe being paraded naked and molested. CJI DY had Chandrachud expressed deep concern over the incident and assured that the court would intervene if the government failed to act.

Meanwhile, the centre on 27 July had told the top court that the CBI would be probing the case and requested that the trial be shifted outside Manipur.

(With inputs from Bar and Bench, LiveLaw)