SC summons Manipur DGP

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that the DGP of Manipur shall remain present before the court for the next hearing on Monday at 2 pm and be in a position to answer the court.

Having called as "deeply disturbing" the video of two women being paraded naked in Manipur, SC also said there was a long delay in registering the FIR in connection with the incident.

Tension had soared in Manipur, tormented by unabated ethnic violence, after a May 4 video surfaced last week that showed two women from one of the warring communities being paraded naked by a mob from the other side.

"One thing is very clear that there is long delay in registering FIR in video case," a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud remarked orally. At the outset, the Manipur government told the bench it has lodged 6,523 FIRs after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur in May.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Manipur government, told the top court that Manipur police have arrested seven people, including a juvenile, in the video case. It appears that the state police recorded the statement of women after video surfaced, Mehta told the bench. The Solicitor General informed SC that 250 arrests have been made and 12,000 arrests have been done preventive measures.

The SC pulled up the government and asked whether policemen who handed over women to mob were questioned by state police. The court asked, “If law and order machinery cannot protect people what happens to citizens?”

Mehta told the bench that the state police lodged ‘zero’ FIR in the case of parading the two women naked.

The SC recorded that the report which has been filed on behalf of Manipur state that 6496 FIRs have been registered as on July 25, 2023. The court noted that the status report stated that as per official reports 150 deaths took place, 502 were injured, 5,101 cases of arson and 6,523 FIRs were registered. 252 persons were arrested in FIRs and 1,247 persons arrested for preventive measures. Status report stated that 7 arrests have been made in connection of 11 FIRs.

The SC said that entrusting CBI with the investigation of 6,500 FIRs is impossible otherwise it will result in the breakdown of the CBI mechanism also. At the same time, state police can’t be entrusted, it added. The court said it needs to know in how many FIRs specific names of accused have been taken and if there are names in the FIRs, what steps have been taken to arrest them?

Earlier in the day, the top court directed the CBI not to proceed with recording the statements of the victim women during the day as it is scheduled to hear a batch of petitions on the issue at 2 pm.