New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday ordered an end to the impasse over the bodies of those killed in the Manipur violence, fixing a deadline for families to either accept the identified corpses that have not been claimed yet or let the state perform their last rites in line with their religion.
The court said it didn’t want to keep the “pot boiling” over dead bodies in the tense state, where ethnic violence erupted in May between the Meiteis and the Kukis.
The three-judge bench’s order came on a court-appointed committee’s report that alleged civil services organisations (CSOs) working in Manipur in the aftermath of the ethnic clashes were obstructing families of those killed from claiming their bodies.
Headed by former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal, the committee is tasked with overseeing relief and rehabilitation in Manipur. As quoted in the court order, the panel has noted in its report that 169 out of 175 bodies had been identified, of which 81 had been claimed, while 88 hadn’t.
The petitioners on whose plea the panel was constituted had moved the court seeking to know the contents of its report.
Headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, the bench brushed aside the petitioners’ request to provide them with a copy of Justice Mittal committee’s report.
The CJI said: “From what we can understand is that the pot should be kept boiling. This is nothing but obstruction….we don’t want the pot boiling on dead bodies.”
One of the petitioners claimed the dispute over the last rites of the people killed had been amicably resolved during a meeting Monday, saying the panel was perhaps unaware about it.
However, when the Manipur government denied there was any unanimous resolution on where to perform the last rites, the bench went on to give directions for the last rites of both the identified as well as the unidentified bodies.
The bench noted that the municipality Act of Manipur contains provisions for disposal of dead bodies, particularly those that are unclaimed. The law allows the civic agency to provide for the burial or cremation of such bodies from its own funds, it said.
According to the committee, the state has identified nine burial sites where dead bodies of the riot victims can be cremated or buried, and asked the families to choose any of these to perform the last rites.
Bearing in mind that the violence took place in May, the committee has also submitted that it would not be appropriate or proper to indefinitely keep in mortuaries the bodies that have not been identified or claimed.
The court observed that the state had prepared a standard operating procedure (SOP) for performing the last rites of the deceased.
For the identified bodies, the court said the government shall intimate families about the nine burial sites on or before 4 December to enable them to opt for one of them. The families, the court added, would be at liberty to perform the last rites at any of the identified sites without any hindrance from any third party.
With regard to the identified but unclaimed bodies, the court said, the state shall inform the families on or before 4 December about the nine burial sites and give them an option to carry out the last rites within a week.
In case the same is not followed, the state, it said, would be permitted to perform the last rites with due observance of religious rites. The state was told to issue a public notice on this.
Liberty was given to the collector, Imphal, and superintendent of police to make appropriate law and order arrangements.
On the petitioners’ contention that DNA samples should be drawn from the dead bodies as it would aid police probe into riot incidents, the court asked the state to do so in case it was not done when the autopsy was conducted.
Responding to apprehensions that several bodies were lying in Imphal, and it was impossible for the kin to personally collect them due to the sensitive situation there, the court asked the state chief secretary to give appropriate directions to ensure the families of the dead can access the bodies.
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Lawyers in altercation
The hearing witnessed a verbal altercation between solicitor general Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Colin Gonsalves.
Appearing for the Manipur government, Mehta accused Gonsalves’s client — a tribal organisation — of instigating the families against accepting dead bodies as well as compensation.
Mehta said: “The next of kin of the dead body, which is lying in the mortuary, is agreeable to burying it in one of the nine sites. Why would somebody else have an objection to it?”
The solicitor backed the Justice Mittal committee’s findings and said civil society organisations were threatening families who agreed to take away the bodies or claim compensation from the government.
On the court’s suggestion to publicise the burial sites, Mehta said it was not possible as publicising them would mean inviting large-scale protests at these sites.
Mehta constantly interrupted and objected to Gonsalves addressing the court, claiming he did not represent the victims. At this, Gonsalves accused Mehta of representing the “assassin”.
Gonsalves told the court that his client wanted to cremate the dead according to the Kuki-Zo customs. “We will bury them at a single mass site, according to our customs. They died as a tribe collectively and should be buried together. I am agreeable to an undisputed site.”
To Mehta’s statement that he did not speak for the victims, Gonsalves shot back to say: “I represent all the 94 bodies (including 6 that remain unidentified). I can give you the vakalatnama for all of them.”
The bench, however, did not get drawn into the controversy, but expressed deep anguish on families being stopped from accepting ex-gratia payment from the government. The court learnt from the Justice Mittal report that, out of the 169 identified cases, ex-gratia payment had been made to the next of kin in 73 cases. All payments have been done as direct benefit transfer to the beneficiary’s accounts.
With regard to 58 cases, verification is said to be under way for the ex-gratia assistance. But 38 families, the court learnt, have expressed unwillingness to receive the ex-gratia amounts. This, the committee report said, is “unfortunately, on account of pressure from civil society organisations, which include the ITLF (Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum), JPO (Joint Philanthropic Organisations), KIM (Kuki Inpi Manipur) etc.”
The court said it will now take up the matter Monday.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)