Manipur Violence: ‘No objection if SC monitors CBI probe’, says Centre

The Supreme Court of India on Monday called for evolving a broad mechanism to deal with violence against women in violence-hit Manipur. It asked how many FIRs have been registered in such incidents since May in the northeast state.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government, told a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud that the Centre has no objection if the top court monitors the case. The bench also comprises Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra.

During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the two victim women from Manipur said that the women are against the CBI probe into the case and transfer of the case to Assam, ANI reported.

“This video came to light but this is not the only incident where assault or harassment is done to women, there are also other women. So this is not an isolated incident. We also have to make a mechanism to see the broader issue of violence against women. This mechanism should ensure that all such cases are taken care of,” said CJI DY Chandrachud.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising told the top court that a total of 595 FIRs have been registered as per the Centre’s status report. “How many of these relate to sexual violence, and how many are arson, murder, there is no clarity,” Jaising said.

Jaising further argues for a high-powered committee to visit violence-hit Manipur and record the survivors’ statements.

However, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves pressed for an SIT comprising retired senior police officers into the case. “There is a conspiracy to commit rapes. There have been 16 such instances.”

He also requested the Supreme Court not to include any cop from Manipur in the SIT and oppose a CBI probe.

The hearing in the matter is still underway. On July 20, the apex court observed that it was ‘deeply disturbed’ by the video of two women being paraded naked in strife-torn Manipur. It said that using women as instruments for perpetrating violence is “simply unacceptable in a constitutional democracy”.

Following this, a bench headed by the chief justice of India directed the Centre and the Manipur government to take immediate remedial, rehabilitative, and preventive steps and apprise it of the action taken.