Manipur violence | Supreme Court issues direction for ensuring burial or cremation of bodies

Supreme Court directs burial or cremation of bodies in Manipur lying in mortuaries since May 2023. It says 169 of 175 bodies identified, 81 claimed by next of kin. Supreme Court permits family members to perform last rites at nine sites, directs DNA samples be taken before burial or cremation.

The Supreme Court on November 28 issued directions for ensuring burial or cremation of bodies lying in mortuaries in Manipur, where ethnic clashes had claimed several lives in May.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D. Y. Chandrachud noted that a report filed by the apex court-appointed all-woman committee of former High Court judges, headed by justice (retd) Gita Mittal, has indicated the position of the bodies that are lying in mortuaries in the northeastern State.

The bench, also comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the report indicated that 169 of the 175 bodies have been identified while six have not been identified.

It noted that of the 169 identified bodies, 81 have been claimed by the next of kin while 88 have not been claimed.

The bench observed that the State government has identified nine sites where the burial or cremation can take place.

"Bearing in mind the fact that violence in the state of Manipur had taken place in May 2023, it would not be either appropriate or proper to keep the bodies which have not been identified or claimed indefinitely in the mortuaries," it said.

The apex court is seized of a batch of pleas, including those seeking court-monitored probe into cases of violence, besides measures for relief and rehabilitation.