Give us complete break-up of 6,000 FIRs, SC tells Manipur government

The Supreme Court said it needed a complete break-up of the “approximately 6,000 First Information Reports [FIRs]“ the Manipur government claimed to have registered during the ethnic clashes in the State, including cases of murder, rape, arson, crimes against women, burning of villages, homes and places of worship. It listed the case on August 1

The Supreme Court on July 31 said it needed a complete break-up of the “approximately 6,000 First Information Reports [FIRs]“ the Manipur government claimed to have registered during the ethnic clashes in the State, including cases of murder, rape, arson, crimes against women, burning of villages, homes and places of worship.

The court listed the case for August 1 at 2 p.m..

A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud was surprised to find the Centre and the State groping for facts about crimes which are “public knowledge reported widely in the national media”.

The court was shocked to know that the Manipur police took 14 whole days to register even a ‘Zero FIR’ (an FIR that can be filed in any police station) on the sexual assault and gangrape of two women in Thoubal district on May 4. The case was transferred to the police station concerned on June 21. The video of the “horrific” visuals of the sexual violence went viral on July 19. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the video on July 20. The arrests, seven in number, were made only after the apex court took judicial note.

“What were the police doing from May 4 to May 18? The incident came to light involving three women paraded naked in the presence of a mob. At least, two of them were raped. What were the police doing for 14 days?” Chief Justice Chandrachud asked Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Manipur government.

The two women, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, have approached the apex court, objecting to the Centre and the State’s decision to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Mr. Siibal alleged “collaboration” between the State police and the mob. He said the police, instead of taking the women away from the mob, took them towards the crowd and abandoned them to their fate. He submitted that one of the women had lost her father and brother to the mob’s violence. There was still no information about their bodies.