File Picture
The Supreme Court has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing 11 first information reports (FIRs) related to the 2023 Manipur ethnic violence cases, to submit a status report within two weeks.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi also mooted the idea that instead of the apex court, the jurisdictional Manipur high court, which has a new chief justice, or the Gauhati high court or both monitor the trials and related developments in the violence cases.
It also asked the central and Manipur governments to ensure implementation of the recommendations of the Justice Gita Mittal committee on rehabilitation and welfare of the victims of the ethnic violence in the state.
The court-appointed committee comprising Justice Mittal, the former chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir, and Justices Shalini P Joshi, a former judge of the Bombay high court, and Asha Menon, an ex-judge of the Delhi high court, have so far submitted several reports on measures to rehabilitate the victims.
More than 200 people have been killed, several hundred injured and thousands displaced since ethnic violence first broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
At the outset, senior advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for one of the woman victims who passed away recently, said that she be substituted by her mother and accused that the CBI did not even inform her that a chargesheet in her rape case was filed.
Grover said the Kuki woman died last month from an illness allegedly linked to the trauma she suffered after being gang-raped.
“I have accessed the trial court report. The main accused are not appearing. The CBI is not present. The casualness with which it is happening is shocking,” she alleged.
To this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said, “Nobody can oppose what Grover is saying. The victim’s rights cannot be affected.”
“Let the CBI file a status report,” the CJI said, suggesting, “The monitoring part we can entrust to the (Manipur) High Court’s Chief Justice.”
At the outset, senior advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for one of the woman victims who passed away recently, said that she be substituted by her mother and accused that the CBI did not even inform her that a chargesheet in her rape case was filed.
Grover said the Kuki woman died last month from an illness allegedly linked to the trauma she suffered after being gang-raped.
“I have accessed the trial court report. The main accused are not appearing. The CBI is not present. The casualness with which it is happening is shocking,” she alleged.
To this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said, “Nobody can oppose what Grover is saying. The victim’s rights cannot be affected.”
“Let the CBI file a status report,” the CJI said, suggesting, “The monitoring part we can entrust to the (Manipur) High Court’s Chief Justice.”
