Violence in Manipur is “purely an issue of law-and-order”, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday as it refused to urgently hear a plea for the deployment of armed forces in the state to protect the Kukis and order prosecution of those attacking the tribal community.
“We hope courts are not required to pass orders that the army needs to be deployed. It’s a purely law-and-order problem,” said a bench of justices Surya Kant and MM Sundresh, turning down the request for an immediate hearing of an application moved in a bunch of matters relating to the ethnic violence in the state between the Meities and the Kukis.
The violent clashes between the two communities that started in the first week of May have so far left at least 115 people dead.
Representing NGO Manipur Tribal Forum, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves mentioned the matter before the bench, pressing for a hearing this week. He claimed that 70 tribals were killed after the May 17 hearing in the court. “We have taken out an urgent application for the protection of the tribals and the prosecution of those attacking them. 70 tribals have been killed despite the assurance given by the state to this court last month,” said Gonsalves.
Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Manipur government, opposed the submissions. “Security agencies are already on the ground, and they are doing their best. My friend’s public interest can certainly wait. Besides, this is the second time such an application has been made before this court. It was mentioned earlier too, and the court refused to entertain it at that time. Now, the court has listed this matter after the summer vacation.”
{{/usCountry}}Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Manipur government, opposed the submissions. “Security agencies are already on the ground, and they are doing their best. My friend’s public interest can certainly wait. Besides, this is the second time such an application has been made before this court. It was mentioned earlier too, and the court refused to entertain it at that time. Now, the court has listed this matter after the summer vacation.”
{{/usCountry}}Gonsalves said the court has listed the matter on July 17 and 50 more people will be killed by then.
The bench questioned what was the basis of the calculation. “It’s a serious issue of law and order. You can aggravate the problem by making such submissions. The moment you say they are not doing it properly, you can create more problems.”
Gonsalves then pressed for a listing on Wednesday. But the bench replied: “We are not listing it tomorrow. We will list the case on July 3 and not before that.”
Following a six-week-long summer break, the Supreme Court reopens on July 3. During the break, vacation benches sit in the top court to take up the cases that require urgent intervention and some old cases where both sides agree to argue the case for final disposal.
A rally by a tribal Kuki group to protest against a controversial high court order for considering the inclusion of the dominant and politically stronger Meitei community to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list sparked a wave of violence between the two communities in May. The violence has left over 310 injured and 40,000 displaced.
On March 27, a single-judge bench of the high court directed the state government to consider sending within four weeks a recommendation to the Union government on the demand for ST status by the Meitei community.