New Delhi: The Supreme Court has termed the video of two women being paraded naked in Manipur as “extremely disturbing”; Stating that there was a lot of delay in registering the FIR in connection with the incident, the complainant said on Tuesday. In a scathing remark, CJI DY Chandrachud said that it is clear that the police have lost control over the law and order situation in the state and if the law and order machinery cannot protect the people then what will happen to the citizens? It said that the state police has been unable to investigate, it has lost control of the situation. The court has asked the DGP of Manipur to appear and answer questions at the next hearing. Now the next hearing of this case will be on August 7.
For information, let us tell you that in Manipur, which is facing caste violence, the tension increased when a video surfaced last week in which a crowd of some people of one community was seen walking naked two women of another community. The incident took place on May 4.
There was a long delay in registering the FIR
On the demand of handing over the case to the CBI, the Supreme Court said that even the FIR was not being registered. Even if 50 FIRs out of 6000 are handed over to the CBI, what will happen to the remaining 5950? During the hearing, a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud made an oral observation, “One thing is very clear that there has been considerable delay in registering the FIR in the video matter.
After the video surfaced, the statements of the women were recorded
At the start of the hearing, the Manipur government told the bench that it had registered 6,523 FIRs after the caste violence broke out in May. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Center and the Manipur government, told the bench that the state police had registered zero FIR in the matter of sexual harassment of the two women. Mehta told the top court that the Manipur Police has arrested seven people, including a minor, in the video case. He told the bench that it appears that the state police recorded the statements of the women after the video of the incident surfaced.
CBI will not be able to work
During the hearing, the Supreme Court said that you are saying that there are 6500 FIRs, but how many of these are serious crimes? They need swift action. That’s the only way people will have faith. If 6500 FIRs are given to CBI, then CBI will not be able to work. The Solicitor General said that we have to first classify the cases only then there will be clarity. This will take some time.
State DGP instructions to appear and answer
Expressing displeasure with the Manipur Police, the apex court said the investigation into the incident was very slow and there was a complete breakdown of law and order and constitutional machinery in the state. The police action so far has been slow and inadequate. We direct that the DGP of the State shall appear in person and answer the questions of the Court. All the cases should be classified and the chart should be submitted to the court.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) not to record statements of women victims of sexual assault in Manipur, saying it would hear several petitions related to the matter at 2 pm. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Mishra took note of the submissions of advocate Nizam Pasha, appearing for the women.
The CBI had asked these women to appear before it today and record their statements. Terming as “horrific” the video of the women concerned being paraded naked in Manipur, the Supreme Court on Monday directed it to find out the reason behind the delay in registering the FIR. Apart from this, the court had also suggested setting up a committee of retired judges or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to oversee the probe.
