New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday indicated that it will set up a committee comprising former high court judges to ensure a fair investigation into the horrific criminal cases being reported from the ethnic violence-hit Manipur, and asked the state government to submit tabulated data on FIRs based on the nature of offences.
The top court also slammed the state police and said it carried out a "lethargic" probe so much so that FIRs were registered two months after the crimes were committed.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said the court is mulling to constitute a "broad-based" committee of former high court judges. The Chief Justice said they will first decide on the remit such as relief, compensation, and rehabilitation, to ensure the investigation is fair, recording of section 164 statements irrespective of where the victims are, as many have left Manipur.
“We are inclined to form a committee," said the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice observed that there are 6,500 FIRs so far and it is not possible for the CBI alone to investigate and also summoned Manipur DGP to understand why a "tardy" probe was carried out in cases of heinous nature, and said, "We will decide the future course of action on that day". The top court is scheduled to take up the matter on August 7, at 2 pm.
The top court asked the state government to bring on record data on FIRs based on the nature of offences -- murder and rape, arson, destruction of property, outraging of modesty, destruction of religious places, and grievous hurt. The court also asked the state to submit a statement on other details of the cases: date of occurrence, date of zero FIR registration, regular FIR registration date, date on which Section 164 statements were recorded, date of arrest, and also if the concerned accused persons have been named in the FIRs.
The bench stressed that it is impractical to transfer all cases “lock, stock, and barrel” to the CBI and asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to come up with instructions on who will probe the cases. During the hearing, the bench noted that it is clear that from May to July, the state police were not in charge and they may have made performative arrests and observed that either they were not interested or not capable of doing it.
The Chief Justice said, "Investigation is so lethargic -- FIRs registered after two months and arrests not made…..statements recorded after a long lapse of time”. He said, “We are not in the situation where the state police can carry out the investigation”, and indicated at developing a mechanism to handle the case as entrusting CBI investigation of 6500 FIRs is impossible and the state police can't be entrusted. The Chief Justice told Mehta, “So what do we do? Come back on that”.
Regarding the viral video of Manipur women, the Chief Justice said the record reflects that the survivors were handed over to the mob by the police and questioned Mehta, ‘Has the DGP cared to find out if the police were booked? What has he done? What is his duty?’
At the end of the hearing, a counsel mentioned a communication among the higher police authorities in Manipur pertaining to an influx of infiltrators from Myanmar into the state, and now many of them could not be traced. The Chief Justice said, “we have to ensure that justice is done, that is all”. Mehta contended that most of the unclaimed bodies are those infiltrators and they had come with a particular design and got killed and added, “I don’t wish to mention anything further and vitiate things...”
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing the Manipur Tribal Forum Delhi, said 118 tribal bodies are in the morgue in Imphal, they are rotting, and the bodies are unidentified for months, and “no attempt is being made to help us identify.” The Chief Justice said these bodies cannot be kept indefinitely in a morgue and asked the state government to submit details on the efforts made to identify the bodies. It asked about the appointment of nodal officers so that dead bodies were identified and handed over to relatives.
Gonsalves said families of those killed were promised Rs 10 lakh each as part of a compensation package, but “they are yet to get this”. A counsel said he hopes relief money should not go to the infiltrators. The bench said for compensation, the families of those killed would have to meet certain yardsticks, which usually happens in every compensation scheme.
Earlier, the central government had ordered a CBI probe into the incident of parading of two naked women and their sexual assault. The top court was hearing a batch of petitions connected with ethnic violence in Manipur.
Also read: Complete breakdown of law and order in Manipur, says SC; summons DGP
