CBI takes over probe in Manipur sexual assault; files FIR

The Centre on Thursday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the case has been transferred to the CBI and that the trial must be time-bound, and should take place outside Manipur.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday took over the probe into the sexual assault case where three Kuki women were stripped, paraded naked and assaulted, with one of them gang-raped, by a mob in Manipur on May 4, people familiar with the development said.

(Representative Photo)

After taking over the probe, the agency has re-registered the first information report (FIR) filed by the Manipur police, they said.

A viral video of the gruesome crime surfaced on July 19, almost three months after the incident, which showed three women being stripped naked and paraded, sparking outrage across the country.

Allegedly, one of the victims was gang-raped and two male family members of the victims were murdered on May 4 in Manipur’s Thoubal district.

The case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a reference from the Union Home Ministry, said the people mentioned above.

The Centre on Thursday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the case has been transferred to the CBI and that the trial must be time-bound, and should take place outside Manipur.

“The central government considers the offences like the present one to be too heinous which deserve to be taken not only with the seriousness it deserves but justice should be seen to be done so that it has a deterrent effect throughout the nation with respect to crimes against women,” stated the affidavit filed by Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla.

After the video of the sexual assault went viral, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke more than two months of public silence over deadly ethnic clashes, saying that the assaults of two women were unforgivable. He, however, did not refer directly to the larger violence which has engulfed the northeastern state the first week of May.

The Congress-led opposition grouping has been demanding a statement by the prime minister in the Parliament on the Manipur issue followed by a discussion in both Houses.

Manipur police have so far arrested seven accused persons in the sexual assault case, including some of those seen in the viral video, while the hunt is on for others, according to a senior police officer, who didn’t wish to be named.

The CBI’s special investigation team (SIT) is already investigating six other cases related to violence in Manipur and the loot of weapons from state armouries, said officials familiar with the development.

Officials familiar with the CBI probe said the agency will take the custody of accused persons arrested by Manipur police and interrogate them, besides taking the statements of the victims, their families, and witnesses.

Since May 3, Manipur has been gripped by ethnic clashes – primarily between the Kukis, which mostly reside in the hill districts, and Meiteis, the dominant community in Imphal Valley. At least 150 people have been killed and over 50,000 have been displaced so far.

Clashes first broke out on May 3 in Churachandpur town after tribal Kuki groups called for protests against a proposed tweak to the state’s reservation matrix, granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the majority Meitei community. Violence quickly engulfed the state where ethnic fault lines run deep, displacing tens of thousands of people who fled burning homes and neighbourhoods into jungles, often across state borders. The authorities quickly clamped a curfew and suspended the internet, pumping in additional security forces to force a break in the spiralling clashes.

The state has recorded 5,101 cases of arson and registered 6,065 first information reports (FIRs) related to various incidents of violence so far. At least 252 people have been arrested and around 12,740 preventive arrests have been made.