The Supreme Court today said that it will constitute a Committee headed by Justice Geeta Mittal who retired as the Chief Justice of J&K High Court. The Secretary of the Committee will be Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi who retired from the Bombay High Court and the Committee will include Justice Asha Menon who retired from Delhi High Court. The Committee will look at other things apart from the investigation of crimes arising out of Manipur Violence. The Court said that former IPS officer Dattatray Padsalgikar from the Maharashtra cadre will monitor the investigation and report to the Court.

The Bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra said after hearing that it will pass an order constituting a Committee of three former High Court judges to look at things apart from the investigation, like relief, remedial measures, compensation, restoration of religious places and other aspects of humanitarian nature. On investigation, the Court said it will not supplant CBI which will inquire into rape cases, but that it will direct that there shall be five officers of at least the DYSP rank who are brought into CBI from various states, who are conversant with Hindi language, on deputation to oversee the investigation into FIRs which are transferred to CBI.

The Apex Court said that the officers will function within the four corners of the CBI, supervised by a joint director of the CBI. The Court said that a former IPS officer with wide experience to oversee the investigation to report back to the Court. With respect to the state investigation into cases which are not transferred to the CBI, the Court said that the around 42 SITs constituted by the State will have an inspector from other states. The Court said that the SITs will be supervised by DIGs from other states. The Court said that it is not that the Court lacks faith in the existing officers of the CBI.

At the beginning of the hearing, Attorney General R. Venkataramani handed over the tabular bifurcation of the FIRs registered in the state on the basis of the nature of crimes. He submitted that without blaming either side, he has some suggestions which were handed over. The suggestions included fixing the rank of police officers who will investigate different kinds of crimes.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the existing 11 cases of rape and any future cases of rape that will be discovered during the investigation will be investigated by the CBI. He said that the CBI team has two women SP-level officers.

Advocate Vrinda Grover submitted that since victims are residing elsewhere, who will be the jurisdictional Magistrate will have to be decided.

Advocate Indira Jaising submitted that along with proper investigation, prevention of crimes is also necessary. She read from a PPT prepared jointly by the Counsel appearing in the matter. She submitted that FIRs need to be registered against Police officers who are not performing their duties. She submitted that there is an obligation on the Centre to ensure that the States implement Parliamentary laws. She also submitted that dead bodies have to be returned.

Attorney General R. Venkataramani then submitted that there are interventions while the State is trying to return bodies to families. He said that what happens on the ground is different from what is presented before the Court. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta then submitted that there is a pattern whereby something big happens the day before a hearing before the Apex Court. He said that he hopes that it is only a coincidence.

Advocate Nizam Pasha submitted that as per the list submitted by the State itself, the number of rape cases is 16. The SG then submitted that the list was revised and it is 11 cases as per the information currently available. Pasha submitted that SIT proposed to be constituted by the State does not address the concern of the petitioners about the state's handling of the riots. He said that there is a "selection bias in favour of a certain section of the society" in the formation of the SIT by the State. He submitted that bodies should be transferred from Imphal to a hill district to facilitate identification since relatives are too scared to go to Imphal to identify bodies. The SG opposed the submission. "Please don't create a situation beyond your control", the Attorney General said opposing the statements.

Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves submitted that the leaders of the groups who incited violence should be identified and put behind bars. "They think they are invincible. They think they can't be touched", he submitted.

A Lawyer then submitted that the cases of missing persons are not part of the list tendered by the state and they need to be looked into.

The SG submitted that it will not be appropriate not to trust the police at this stage. He submitted that if a Committee is constituted to interact with women victims, it must be of retired judges and not of people from civil society.

Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta submitted that the lynching judgment is not applicable to the conflict in Manipur and those principles cant be applied to the context in which the violence happened.

Senior Advocate Maninder Singh submitted that militant groups from across the border are involved and the atrocities are faced by all communities. He said that he does not want to raise those issues now. He submitted that around 370 km of the border is not fenced and that people from across the border are involved in poppy cultivation.

Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde submitted that the highways that are blocked need to be cleared.

A Senior Advocate from Manipur submitted that he has experienced the results of riots and that those in Delhi must to Manipur and experience what is happening there. "People are separated by violence but joined by misery", he submitted.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan submitted that there must be measures to secure the arms of the police and armed forces and to recover the arms and ammunition that have been looted from the armed forces. Senior Advocate Ranjith Kumar appeared for an intervenor. Senior Advocate CU Singh appeared for SCAORA and submitted they that it is ready to render any assistance necessary.

The Director General of Police for the State of Manipur, Rajiv Sing, appeared in person before the Court today

On August 1, 2023, the Court strongly criticized the State of Manipur for its "lethargic and tardy investigation" into the offences arising from the communal violence, after perusing the status report indicating the total number of FIRs registered and the action taken thereon and had noted in its order that, "This report which the State of Manipur has filed, it has been stated that 6,496 FIRs have been registered as on 25th July 2023. The State report further states that according to the official statistics, among 150 deaths, 59 took place between the 3rd-5th May; 28 between the 27th-29th May and 13 on the 9th of June. 502 persons are reported to be injured. There were 5101 cases of arson and 6523 FIRs were registered. It has been stated that 252 persons were arrested in connection with all the FIRs while 12740 arrests were made as a preventive measure."

Further, in order to enable the Court to appreciate the entire dimensions or the nature of the investigations warranted, the Court directed that the Director General of Police of Manipur shall remain personally present before the Court and be in a position to answer the queries of the Court. Earlier, the Court had also expressed its opinion that it would constitute a Committee of retired women judges and subject experts to record statements of victims of sexual violence in Manipur.

Cause Title: Dinganglung Gangmei v. Mutum Churamani Meetei And Ors.& Connected Matters [Diary No. 19206-2023]

Chief Justice DY ChandrachudJustice JB PardiwalaJustice Manoj MisraManipur Violence

Ramey Krishan Rana