Manipur Violence Case: Supreme Court Resumes Hearing Today; DGP Directed to Appear

NEW DELHI: Hearing on the batch of petitions related to the ongoing Manipur violence will be resumed by the Supreme Court from today (Aug 7).

The apex court had directed that Manipur's Director General of Police (DGP) be present during the hearing being resumed on Monday, even while it stated concern that there has been an absolute breakdown of law and order situation and constitutional machinery of the state.

In the earlier hearing, the CJI DY Chandrachud- led bench had stated that, according to the updates shared with the court, it was indicated that there was “no law from the beginning of May till the end of July" in the northeastern state.

The Supreme Court had voiced its anguish and lashed out at the “lethargic” and “tardy” probe being conducted into the loss of human lives, dignity and properties that came as a result of the ethnic violence in Manipur. The SC bench had lamented that the state has seen an “absolute breakdown of constitutional machinery” for two months, and summoned the state’s director general of police (DGP) on August 7 to furnish an explanation.

The bench had also asked the DGP to provide all records that relate to the date of the incidents, timing of registrations of FIRs, arrests which have been made, and the recordings of the statements of the victims. The top court was appalled at the incident in which two women were paraded naked and gang-raped, noting that there was inordinate delay in registering their FIRs and taking action against the accused.

There was action taken on Sunday, when Manipur Police suspended five police personnel including the station in-charge of the area where the incident of two women being stripped and paraded by a mob had taken place on May 4, officials said. The officials stated that Manipur police had decided to suspend the station in-charge of Nongpok Sekmai police station in Thoubal district and four other police personnel immediately after the video of the incident surfaced on July 19. It was alleged that the police handed over the victims to the agitated mob.

Manipur had been witnessing large-scale violence for the last three months after ethnic clashes broke out between the two warring communities of Meities and Kukis, after the Manipur High Court asked the state government to consider adding the Meitei community to the list of Scheduled Tribes.

There have been at least 150 people killed and several hundred injured since the eruption of ethnic violence in the state on May 3.

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