Supreme Court to hear Manipur assault video matter today

The Supreme Court of India is considering the government's request to transfer the trial of a case involving the assault of two women by a mob.

The Supreme Court on Monday will consider the Union government’s request to transfer the trial of the case relating to the May 4 assault of two women by a mob -- a viral video of which sparked an outcry, outside Manipur and direct for its conclusion within six months of filing of the charge sheet by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The top court had on July 20 taken a suo motu cognisance of the horrific video, terming it “deeply disturbing” and “grossest violation of constitutional rights”. (Jitender Gupta)

A bunch of petitions concerning the ethnic violence in the northeastern state were to be taken up by the top court on July 28, but indisposition of Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud due to bad health on that day deferred the hearing.

The bench, which also includes justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, will also take up a fresh petition which is directly linked to the incident on May 4.

While identities of the petitioners have been concealed (they have been mentioned as X and Y), the listing records show that the petition is in connection with first information report (FIR) numbered as (110)(6)(2023), registered at Nongpok Sekmai Police Station — the jurisdiction in which B Phainom village is located.

In this FIR, the village head had identified the attackers as those from Meitei groups, stating that three Kuki women were stripped, paraded naked, assaulted, one of them gang-raped, and her father and brother murdered by a mob after the family was snatched from the custody of a police team.

It is the clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities that have claimed at least 150 lives in an episode that many fear to have played out much worse than what is known.

The top court had on July 20 taken a suo motu cognisance of the horrific video, terming it “deeply disturbing” and “grossest violation of constitutional rights”.

Fixing the next hearing on July 28, the court had sought explanations from the Union and the state governments and asked them to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

Responding, the Centre, through Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla, submitted its affidavit on July 27 and informed the court that the case pertaining to the viral video of women being stripped and paraded naked has been handed over to CBI.

Maintaining that it has “zero-tolerance towards any crimes against women”, the Centre sought a direction from the top court the trial must be time bound, and should take place outside Manipur.

“The power to transfer the case/trial outside any state is only with this Hon’ble Court and therefore, the central government is making this request to this Hon’ble Court to pass such an order with a further direction to conclude the trial within a period of six months from the date of the filing of charge sheet by CBI,” pleaded the affidavit.

It added that the central government considers the offences like the present one to be too heinous, which, it said, 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.

The affidavit further said that it has been made mandatory for the police station in-charge to immediately report all such cases to the director general of police (DGP) in Manipur.

On July 20, the top court said that it is deeply disturbed by the video. “It is simply unacceptable and it is time the government stepped in and took some concrete action. Using women as an instrument in an area of communal strife to perpetuate gender violence is unacceptable. It is the grossest of constitutional abuse,” the bench told attorney general R Venkataramani and solicitor general Tushar Mehta on the day.

Seeking affidavits from the Union home secretary and the state chief secretary, the court said: “This is the grossest of constitutional and human right violation. We will give you little time to take action and bring perpetrators to book...otherwise, we will step in.”

The video of a mob parading and assaulting three women after stripping them two months ago in Manipur surfaced on Wednesday, fanning fresh tension in the state and a nationwide outcry.

According to the FIR filed in the case, one of the three women of a family was gang raped while a mob of 800-1000 men killed her brother and father on May 4.

The family of five had fled to a forest to escape the armed mob that entered their village and vandalised houses. Police later rescued the family. The mob surrounded the family and took them from police custody, according to the FIR. The first killed a 56-year-old man on the spot, and then assaulted the three women, the FIR added.