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"..there is also a great need in Manipur to administer a healing touch and restore faith in administration...there is need to send officers who are not politically aligned who shall report to us and give us ground level information..you are dealing with a govt in the north east.. resources are low..", the CJI further remarked today.
CJI DY Chandrachud today observed that merely giving the probe into the incident of sexual assault and violence on two women in violence-hit Manipur, to CBI was not enough.
"Merely giving it to the CBI cannot be enough.. we have to set out modalities.. who is going to record a statement under section 164 CrPC..what about a woman who has lost her family..justice has to come to her doorstep..", the CJI observed.
The bench also comprising of Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra added that it could identify and constitute a committee, consisting of women ex-judges and some members from society to help with the situation in Manipur.
"..we have to rebuild lives now..so what better way than having some objective assistance of a court trusted committee..not just the state government..we have to instill confidence now in the people", the court observed.
The Supreme Court today heard a batch of pleas and interventions in the Manipur violence matter. Court also heard a plea by the two women who were paraded in Manipur on May 4, who objected the transfer of investigation to the CBI and transfer of trial to Assam.
"We would like to clarify we don't want Assam.. we have just said transfer trial outside of Manipur..", SG Tushar Mehta informed the bench.
Notably, the Supreme Court also heard today Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, CU Singh and Indira Jaising along with Advocates Vrinda Grover, Shobha Gupta and Nizam Pasha.
After the concerned intervenors were done with their submissions, Attorney General R Venkataramani began with his submissions. Court was told that the governemtn had no problems if the Supreme Court decided to monitor the investigation itself.
At this juncture, the CJI came down heavily on the government for the delay in registering Zero FIR in the incident. "What was the police doing in the interim...for 18 days.. to register an FIR..naked women were paraded. .", CJI said.
"What was the police doing.. we would like to know..was there any action taken..what about legal aid to these victims..the other things we have to ask is..is this the only standalone incident of violence against women.. how many such FIRs are there..suppose there are 1000 FIRs on offence against women..can CBI investigate all them..", the court added.
The Union government had last week informed the Supreme Court that the "unfortunate and unacceptable" incident of sexual assault and violence on two women in violence-hit Manipur, has been transferred to the CBI.
It had also requested the apex court to transfer the trial in the case outside Manipur with a direction that the trial should be conducted in a time bound manner within six months after the filing of the chargesheet.
On July 20, the Supreme Court told Attorney General and Solicitor General that the court was “deeply disturbed”, as it sought personal affidavit of the Union Home Secretary and state Chief Secretary with regard to steps taken with regard to the viral video showing naked parading of two women.
Notably, the Supreme Court had earlier this month refused to issue directions to the Indian Army for providing security in tribal areas in Manipur.
The top court bench had added that maintenance of law and order fell within the domain of the elected government and it would be inappropriate for the Court to issue directives to the Army. Court accordingly directed the State and Central governments to ensure protection of life and liberty of citizens in Manipur.
State of Manipur had also informed the Supreme Court on July 3, 2023 that the situation in the state was improving by slowly.
Case Title: DINGANGLUNG GANGMEI vs. MUTUM CHURAMANI MEETEI & ORS.
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