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‘Not like Nirbhaya’: Supreme Court on Manipur sexual assault case; police role questioned
The top court called for evolving a broad mechanism to deal with violence against women and asked how many FIRs have been registered in such incidents.
The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Manipur government over the ongoing violence in the northeastern state saying the incident of two Kuki women being paraded naked by a mob before subjecting them to sexual assault cannot be seen as an isolated case. The court termed the incident “horrendous” and said it will not want the state police to probe the matter as they virtually handed over the women to the rioting mob.
The court said though the incident of stripping and parading these women came to light on May 4 why the Manipur police took 14 days to register an FIR on May 18.
"What stood in the way of police registering the FIR immediately on the 4th of May?" the bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, adding that there can't be any justification for not registering a zero FIR immediately.
The bench asked the state government to provide the details about the number of 'zero FIRs' registered in the state torn by ethnic violence and the arrests made so far.
A zero FIR can be filed in any police station regardless of whether the offence was committed within its jurisdiction.
“We would also want to know the package for rehabilitation being provided to the state for affected people,” it said.
Hearing a batch of petitions concerning the violence in Manipur, the bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra stressed the need for a wider mechanism to prevent such incidents.
The court also said the sexual assault case was part of systemic violence.
“There are statements by the victims that they were handed over to the mob by police. This is not a situation like ‘Nirbhaya’," CJI Chandrachid said, referring to the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder case that triggered nationwide outrage.
“That was also horrific but it was isolated. This is not an isolated instance. Here we are dealing with systemic violence which IPC recognises as a special offence,” he said. “In such a case, is it not important that you should have a specialised team?”
“There is a need in the state of Manipur to have a healing touch. Because the violence is continuing unabated…So to restore a sense of faith in the administration, a court-appointed team has its own message to send that the highest appointed court is deeply concerned- It will send officers with no political alignment,” he added.
Mehta told the bench that the Union of India has no objection if the apex court monitors the investigation into the Manipur violence.
