Manipur to SC: Putting efforts to safeguard people's rights, security deployment being reviewed on daily basis

The state government emphasized that it is also committed to taking into account the claims and counterclaims of all stakeholders and communities in a holistic manner to bring normalcy to the state at the earliest.

New Delhi:The Manipur government has told the Supreme Court that it is putting its best effort into safeguarding the rights and security of all irrespective of caste, creed, religion and tribe, and community.

The state government emphasized that it is also committed to taking into account the claims and counterclaims of all stakeholders and communities in a holistic manner to bring normalcy to the state at the earliest. The state has been reeling under ethnic violence for over two months -- 120 people lost their lives, hundreds were injured, and scores have been displaced.

The updated report filed by the state government, in the apex court, submitted that security deployment is being planned, implemented and reviewed on a daily basis by the security advisor to the government of Manipur, and the state police is spearheading the efforts to bring normalcy to the state under the leadership of the newly appointed Director General of Police.

The report said: “It is further submitted that state security forces consisting of Civil Police, IRB, MR, Commandos, VDF etc., 124 Coys of CAPF and 184 Column of Army have been deployed for assisting in the area domination, sanitization and maintenance of law & order situation in the State. Also, arrangements of security for strategic points and locations of local importance, public properties, installations, etc. had been made”.

The report said the matter may be taken up by the petitioners and other parties with utmost sensitivity as any misinformation or rumour or even suspicion may aggravate the situation in Manipur as things are slowly returning to normalcy with great efforts from the central as well as the state government.

"If one-sided arguments are being portrayed in the court - with the advent of live reporting, there is a possibility of the same affecting the public order in the state of Manipur. It is therefore desirable that the parties may not argue referring to the names of the tribes, religion, etc which may have an adverse impact on the ground, whether intended or not," said the report.

The state government sought permission from the court for “taking its own recourse to take up possible steps to bring normalcy in the state after exercising due diligence and without interference in terms of legal, security, political intervention, dialogue, rehabilitation, resettlement, compensation, etc.”

The state said the central government has constituted a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Ajay Lamba, former Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court for the purpose of making an inquiry into a definite matter of public importance, namely, incidents of violence. The report said, "The genesis of the present conflict will be investigated by the Commission of Enquiry and a fact-based conclusion as to the causes will be arrived at ''.

It said as per the police report, around 5995 FIRs have been registered as of July 4, 2023, and are being investigated in connection with different allegations, mishappenings and offences that happened during the ongoing crises and six important FIRs had been transferred to CBI. "Reconstruction of lost documents- Aadhaar, Health Cards, Bank Passbooks, etc has started. Livelihood-generating activities such as candle making, incense sticks making etc have also been taken up in the camps," it said.

The state government also said ex-Gratia of Rs 10.00 lakhs (50% state & 50% from the central scheme for assistance to civilian victims - CSACV) for the dead while Rs 2.00 Lakh for grievous injuries Rs 25000 for non-grievous injuries has been announced. Also, Rs 2 lakh for the families of those whose houses have been burnt down is being provided after assessment, said the report.

The state government said, "Out of a total of 241 bank branches in the State, 218 have been opened as on 06.07.2023…….. Banks have been requested to make all-out efforts to ensure that the remaining 70 ATMs are also made functional at the earliest”.