New Delhi: The Manipur government Monday faced a volley of questions from the Supreme Court on the “unabated” ethnic violence going on in the state since 3 May.
A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud also hinted at the possibility of setting up a special investigation team (SIT) for a court-monitored independent probe into the criminal cases registered in connection with the incidents reported there.
Terming the video of two women being paraded naked by a mob as “horrific”, the bench said that it was not an “isolated incident”, and that there would be several more.
The bench wasn’t inclined to equate the sexual violence in Manipur to violence against women in other states.
When an intervenor (someone seeking to be made a party to a case, not necessarily as a main petitioner) sought to draw the bench’s attention to rape incidents reported from West Bengal, the judges said that, in Manipur’s case, the court was dealing with “something of unprecedented magnitude”, happening in the middle of “communal and sectarian strife”.
“There are statements by the victims that they were handed over to the mob by police. This is not a situation like Nirbhaya. That was also horrific, but was isolated,” the CJI said.
“This is not an isolated instance. Here, we are dealing with systemic violence which IPC (Indian Penal Code) recognises as a special offence. In such a case, is it not important that you should have a specialised team? There is a need in the state of Manipur to have a healing touch. Because the violence is continuing unabated.”
The bench was hearing a suo-motu cognisance case on Manipur violence.
On 20 July, the CJI’s bench took note of the viral video of the naked women, who were also allegedly sexually assaulted, and summoned Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. The court sought an explanation and an action-taken report from the two on the incident.
Following the court’s intervention, Manipur swung into action and arrested seven people. Meanwhile, the CBI took over the probe in the case and an application was filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court to transfer its trial outside Manipur.
On Monday, the bench came across a batch of petitions, including one filed by the two women who were seen in the video. All opposed a CBI probe and demanded a court-monitored SIT inquiry into the incident. Some did not favour moving the trial outside Manipur, citing security concerns.
This led the court to seek more details from the Manipur government on the continuing violence in the state.
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‘Unprecedented magnitude’
After being told by Mehta that 6,000 cases have so far been registered in connection with the ethnic clashes, the bench asked the solicitor to provide a break-up of the FIRs and divide them offence-wise. The court will hear the matter again Tuesday.
However, the bench voiced its concern over delayed action by the Manipur government, particularly in the viral-video case.
“The incident was of 4 May and the zero FIR was registered on 18 May. An incident has come to light involving the women being paraded naked in the presence of a mob. What were the police doing for 18 days?” the bench asked Mehta, who appeared for the Manipur government.
According to Mehta, the delay happened because the police were informed about the incident on 18 May. He said the arrests in the case were made within 24 hours of the video going viral.
This prompted the bench to further question the state. “Why do we have to wait for an arrest to be made? I don’t think anyone can accept the situation that the local police station is unaware of the fact that such an incident has taken place,” the bench said.
On being told that the case was in June transferred to the police station under whose jurisdiction the alleged crime took, the bench remarked: “It took one month and three days to refer it to the jurisdictional court.”
It then asked Mehta to inform the court as to how many zero FIRs had been registered in the state since the violence broke out, and when they were forwarded to the police station having territorial jurisdiction to investigate them.
Further, the court said, it also wants to know the progress of the probe in all of the cases, and what kind of legal aid is being provided to the victims.
The bench asked the state if only one case, as a standalone incident, has been handed over to the CBI or whether there are more, and how many.
Merely entrusting the probe to the CBI may not subserve the purpose, the court observed. Lamenting that a lot of time was already lost and vital evidence may have been obliterated, the bench said it would issue modalities for the progress of investigation.
This, the court said, would ensure that the “process of justice” goes to the doorstep of victims who are alone, living in relief camps, and are unable to go to the court for recording their statements.
To an attempt by intervenors to draw equivalence with crimes against women reported in other parts of the country, the court said it would not be “conducive to address the specific issue of violence faced by women in face of communal strife in Manipur”.
Advocate Bansuri Swaraj, appearing for the intervenors, submitted that women in other states, such as West Bengal, were facing similar atrocities and, hence, the court should take cognisance of these too. She argued that whatever mechanism the court draws should be followed in other states as well.
However, the CJI responded to her by saying : “Undoubtedly, there are crimes against women all over the country. That is unfortunately our social reality. We are, however, dealing with something of unprecedented magnitude, namely crimes and perpetuation of violence against women in a situation of communal or sectarian strife of a nature which is taking place in Manipur.”
“So there is no gainsaying in the fact that there are crimes which are taking place against women in West Bengal as well. The only answer is this — you cannot excuse what is taking place in one part of the country like Manipur on the ground that similar crimes are happening in other parts too,” the bench added.
The court also touched upon the idea of forming an SIT, in case it is not convinced about a CBI probe, to hold an independent inquiry into the offences registered in Manipur.
Besides, it said there is a need to “administer some healing touch, to restore a sense of faith in the administration”.
For this, the court said, it will explore forming a committee of women high court judges who would directly report to the court, and give a dispassionate view of the position on the ground in terms of rehabilitation, accounts of victims in relief camps, and legal aid.
The bench clarified the committee of judges, which could have domain experts as its members, would not undertake any investigation.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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