Supreme Court decides to wait for CFSL report on veracity of alleged audio on Manipur CM meeting

Supreme Court of India awaits CFSL report on alleged Manipur Government complicity in ethnic violence, pending SIT investigation.

The Supreme Court of India on Monday (February 3, 2025) decided to wait for a report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) on the veracity of alleged audio recordings “establishing complicity” between Chief Minister N. Biren Singh-led Manipur Government and the ethnic violence in the northeastern State which led to the loss of many lives.

A Bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, that it has sent whatever content handed over to it by the petitioner, Kuki Organisation for Human Trust, to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL).

After news report on alleged voice clips of CM, Manipur govt. calls it ‘anti-national’ activity

Mr. Mehta said the government has also requested individuals who have uploaded material on social media platform Twitter (now ‘X’) to share the originals. “Please examine all this,” Chief Justice Khanna said.

Chief Justice Khanna reminded the petitioner, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, that the “State was slowly limping back to normalcy.” The CJI said the court would look into whether the case ought to be referred to the Manipur High Court. The court listed the case after six weeks.

Justice Kumar, at the beginning of the court hearing, said Chief Minister Singh had hosted a dinner for him when he was elevated to the Supreme Court. Justice Kumar was the Chief Justice of Manipur High Court till his appointment to the apex court. The judge said he was ready to recuse from the case if the parties wanted him. “There is no issue whatsoever… Not one bit,” Mr. Bhushan responded.

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