- Police not been filing FIRs, only 7 have been arrested so far, court notes
New Delhi, August 1.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sharply criticized the situation in Manipur, lambasting the state government for losing control over the state, not filing FIRs or filing them late and not arresting those responsible for rape and murders in the state.
The state has been reeling under sectarian strife for months now. Civil society activists have accused the state government, headed by CM Biren Singh, of doing nothing and sitting tight while the minority Kukis are being attacked.
“There is no law and order left in Manipur. FIRs have not been filed for months. Only seven persons have been arrested…,” a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chancrachud, observed. “There is a breakdown of law and order.”
The CJI’s reaction came after SG Tushar Mehta submitted that seven persons had been arrested so far in connection with the video of raped women who were paraded naked.
The SG submitted that 6523 FIRs were lodged in the state, of which 11 related to sexual assault on women and 150 to murder. The bench though noted with concern that the FIRs had either been lodged too late or not been lodged at all till the court intervened.
In other cases, even though FIRs had been filed, no investigations worth the name had been conducted, the CJI observed.
“Only seven have been arrested so far in connection with the 6523 cases,” the CJI demanded to know forcing the SG to clarify that the arrests related to the women being paraded incident.
“Have the policemen (who handed over the victims to the mob as per their statements) been interrogated? What is the DGP of the state doing?” he asked.
The DGP will have to appear in court at the next hearing scheduled for Monday to explain the delay in conducting investigations in all these cases.
The CJI was also clear that he would appoint a committee of former judges to tour the state to ensure that peace was restored. He also said that the CBI would not be able to probe all the 6000 FIRs. The police (accused of complicity in the crimes) cannot investigate either, he said.
The court will possibly set up an SIT to probe these cases. The CBI is already in Manipur and may record the statements of the two rape victims.
Their statements, their lawyers said, had already been recorded twice. The central government wants the CBI to probe the video on the raped women being paraded.
SG Tushar Mehta has resisted the idea of an SIT being charged with the task of probing the 11 sexual assault instances in the state. The CJI referred specifically to the case in which two women running a garage were raped and killed. Mehta claimed that the post-mortem of the bodies had been conducted and forensic reports collected.
He, however, claimed that the unidentified bodies so far, 118, were that of infiltrators from across the border. “The unclaimed dead are infiltrators,” Mehta said. He also spoke of “instigation” behind the arguments made by lawyers for the affected Kukis, prompting the CJI to at one point to observe: “The women who were raped are Indian citizens, right?”
The central government sought more time to seek details about the Manipur situation so that the court can correctly assess the situation and take remedial measures if any. The case will now come up on Monday.
