Manipur Violence Case: Supreme Court Proposes Three-Member Committee Of Women Ex-Judges To Oversee Probe

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday gave a proposal for formation of a committee comprising of three former high court judges to not only supervise the investigation, but will also to look into process of rehabilitation and other related issues pertaining to the ethnic violence in strife-hit Manipur.

This will make the ambit of the committee much wider than just conducting a probe into the incidents of violence.

"Our efforts are to restore a sense of confidence in the rule of law. We will constitute at one level a committee of three former HC judges. This committee will be looking at things apart from investigation - including relief, remedial measures etc." the court said.

The three members of the committee will comprise of Justice Gita Mittal, former Chief Justice of J&K HC; Justice Shalini Joshi, former Judge of Bombay High Court; and Justice Asha Menon, the former judge of Delhi High Court, the court said.

Over and apart from the three-member committee, former IPS officer Dattatray Padsalgikar will be entrusted to oversee the CBI investigation, the court said. It was further stated that there will be five officers of the minimum rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), who will be brought into the CBI from different states. These officers are to function within the four corners of infrastructure and administrative structure of CBI, it said.

"There will be 42 SITs looking at cases which have not been transferred to CBI. These SITs should be supervised by DIG ranked officers from outside Manipur. Each officer will monitor six SITs to see that the investigation is going correctly," the court added.

There will also be district-wise Special Investigation Teams (SITs) formed to probe cases related to violence, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Monday. Meanwhile, the SC reserved its order on the plea seeking violence related cases in the northeastern state to be investigated by Court Monitored Committee.

Adhering to the apex court’s order, Manipur Director General of Police Rajiv Singh was today present in the hearing before a Chief justice DY Chandrachud-headed bench to provide answers to queries on the ethnic violence and steps taken by the administration so far. He was also asked to provide the segregation of cases for the purposes of effective investigation.

"Without allowing any external investigation, let SITs be formed at district levels," Attorney General R Venkataramani said.

In case of there being more than 11 First Information Reports, or FIRs, relating to crime against women, being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, these are to be probed by district level SITs headed by an officer of the rank of Superintendent of Police. They should all be women, said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

The SG also informed that the CBI team, which will be investigating this, has two lady SP officers. He informed that CBI has officers from all across the country and that the govt has taken that balance.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General informed the court that the situation is being handled by government on a very mature level, while filing an affidavit with segregation of cases.

Senior Advocate Indira Jaising pointed out that the conflict is ongoing, and suggested that a two-fold approach be adopted, comprising of investigation and prevention of further crimes.

Advocate Nizam Pasha said there are 16 FIRs relating to crimes against women and all of them need to be transferred to the CBI. The Supreme Court had last month lauded for him for his valuable and "fair" suggestions aimed at mitigating the ongoing crisis,

On the other hand, advocate Prashant Bhushan argued there has to be an independent body to investigate supply of arms and ammunitions.

However, the Centre argued that it may not be appropriate not to trust the police with the probe.

In its earlier hearing on August 1, the apex court opined that a complete breakdown of law and order and constitutional machinery in Manipur had happeened. It had slammed the state police for a "tardy" and "lethargic" probe into incidents of ethnic violence, especially those that targetted women, and had summoned the DGP to answer its queries on August 7.

The bench headed by the CJI was today hearing a batch of 10 petitions which related to the violence, seeking reliefs like a court-monitored probe into cases, as well as measures for rehabilitation and other relief.

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