NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday urged the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to refrain from taking statements of the two survivors of the Manipur sexual assault case, a horrific video of which went viral on social media, till the outcome of the 2 PM hearing.
The two survivors had filed a plea in the SC on Monday that the matter should be investigated by a Special investigation team (SIT), instead of the CBI, who have taken up the case on the instruction of the Union govt.
In this context, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud orally asked the Solicitor General to tell the CBI to wait since the Court is scheduled to hear the cases related to Manipur at 2 PM today.
The Court had declared that it was contemplating setting up a panel to record the statements of the survivors and is going to consider the plea for a Special Investigation Team.
On Tuesday morning, Advocate Nizam Pasha made an urgent plea before the CJI, informing about the CBI’s move to record the statements of the Manipur sexual assault survivors.
"The CBI is already coming to record the statement of the victims by noon. Let it await the hearing at 2 pm", Pasha said.
Assenting to the request, CJI DY Chandrachud said, "Mr SG, just ask them to wait, we're going to take it at 2 pm today."
While agreeing to convey the message to the CBI, the SG mentioned they might have gone in "good faith".
The Supreme Court is currently in the midst of hearing a batch of petitions which seek an independent court monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) to conduct a probe into the specifically targeted sexual violence in the State of Manipur.
Moreover, it should be noted that the two women survivors featured in the video have pleaded before the SC bench that they are opposed to the Centre's decision to hand over the investigation to the CBI and transfer the trial to Assam.
In the hearing on Monday, their counsel Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal had stated, "They (Union govt) have transferred the matter to CBI and they want to move the matter to Assam. We're against both."
Sibal had insisted that the investigation be carried out by an agency in which the victims had confidence.
The two survivors of the horrific incident, where they were paraded naked and sexually assaulted, now await the decision of the SC bench on their appeal for a SIT to probe the case.
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