All the cases related to violence against women in India's strife-hit northeastern state Manipur will be monitored by the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud said on Monday while hearing petitions seeking relief and court-monitored probes, as well as measures for rehabilitation.
The top court has also set up an all-women committee of three former High Court judges to look into the investigations related to the violence in the state, along with rehabilitation and other issues.
The committe will be headed by former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir Gita Mittal and will include Justices Shalini Joshi and Asha Menon, from Bombay and Delhi, respectively.
The CJI said: “This will be a broad-based committee which will be constituted to supervise, intervene and monitor relief and rehabilitation, restoration of homesteads, religious places of worships, better relief work, etc.”
The court has also appointed former Maharashtra Director-General of Police (DGP) and Mumbai Police Commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar to oversee the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into such matters.
Talking about the investigation by the CBI into the cases related to violence against women, CJI Chandrachud said that “the court will not ‘supplant the CBI’. However in order to restore faith, the CJI says that the court will order five officers of at least the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) who will be brought into the CBI team from various states.”
Along with this, he said that deputy inspector generals (DIG) from outside Manipur will supervise the 42 Special Investigation Teams (SITs) looking at the cases which have not been transferred to the CBI.
The observation came after Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing Manipur state government as well as the federal government, informed the court that as many as 6,523 first information reports (FIRs) have been registered from May to July.
He further said that all 11 FIRs related to sexual violence have been transferred to the CBI.
The Supreme Court has refused to shift the trial outside the state as it said that it will be premature to do so since the stage of investigation is on however, will seek status reports from the committee headed by Justice Mittal and Padsalgikar.
The apex court had also ordered the SG to ensure that security arrangements are in place for the committee headed by Justice Mittal.
District-wise SITs will be formed to probe cases related to violence, the center today told the Supreme Court, which reserved its order on the plea seeking a Court Monitored Committee to investigate violence in the northeastern state.
Manipur Violence
Manipur has been witnessing violence since May 3 after a Tribal Solidarity March was organized to protest against the Meitei tribe’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
However, there was a massive uproar after a video of two tribal women being paraded naked and sexually assaulted went viral on July 19. As per media reports, the video is said to be from May 4.
More than 150 people have died in the ethnic clashes while several have been injured and thousands have been displaced.
Meiteis are the largest tribe in the state, accounting for 53 per cent of state’s population, whereas the Kuki tribe is in minority. Despite being in majority, Meiteis have just 10 per cent of state’s territory and are not allowed to purchase land in the hill areas. If granted, the ST status would let them buy land in Kukis-dominated areas.
Some fear that if ST status is given to the Meitei, they will get reservations in public jobs as well as educational institutes and access to forest land.