Manipur Violence Cases Trials To Begin In Assam? Supreme Court Seeks CBI, NIA Reports

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Manipur government, the CBI, and the NIA to file reports mentioning the status of investigations and chargesheets filed in cases of ethnic violence. The Supreme Court sought the reports to decide whether the trials can start in Assam or be done in Manipur.

The Supreme Court also made it clear it cannot issue directions to the state government and law enforcement agencies to maintain law and order in Manipur after fresh incidents of violence, armed protests, highways blockage and the attack on the premises of a district collector in the past two months.

"These are the matters where this court cannot give directions. We cannot be issuing directions to the civil society organisations to maintain law and order... The state government is there to maintain law and order," said the Bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwla and Manoj Misra.

The Supreme Court told Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the state government and the probe agencies, to take instructions on a recent report of the Justice Gita Mittal committee on incidents of violence in the state.

The Supreme Court-appointed three-judge committee headed by Justice Mittal had requested the court to pass orders following the recent incidents of violence.

The Supreme Court told the committee's lawyer to give a copy of the report to the Attorney General to take instructions on the issue.

The Supreme Court referred to a communication received from a special judge in Assam's Guwahati, to whom the cases of violence in Manipur were transferred, for monitoring the investigation.

The trial judge wanted a clarification about whether he can proceed with the trial in the cases which were transferred from Manipur to Guwahati, following the Supreme Court's directions in August 2023.

The court in Assam also wanted advice on how it should proceed to deal with juvenile offenders.

"The updated status reports will be filed by the Manipur government, the NIA and the CBI with regard to the investigations. The status report should indicate the chargesheets filed as of now and the stage of investigations in other cases," the Bench said, referring to the National Investigation Agency and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

"Let us have an idea. We will take a call on whether the trial should take place in Assam or in Manipur," the Chief Justice said and allowed the Manipur government to file a response.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Manipur government, said it wanted the trial to be done in the state as there was a marked improvement in the situation.

"We want to know whether the cases were ripe for the trial or not," the Bench said, adding that a tabulated chart be filed on the status of the cases.

The Supreme Court ordered the listing of petitions on the Manipur violence after two weeks.

The Supreme Court in August last year transferred to Assam several Manipur violence cases being probed by the CBI, including the sexual assault case on two women seen in a video being paraded naked. The Supreme Court had also told the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court to nominate one or more judicial officers to deal with the cases.

The Supreme Court had passed several directions on judicial procedures, including virtual examination of victims and witnesses by courts, saying they have been issued "at the present stage, bearing in mind the overall environment in Manipur and the need for ensuring a fair process of criminal justice administration".

"Both sides (Kuki and Meiteis) have been hurt... There have been victims in valleys, and in hills. It would be difficult for people who suffered in valleys to travel to hills, and the other way round. We are not on who suffered more, just the practical difficulty," the Chief Justice had said, adding the Supreme Court will pass orders which will be fair to both sides.

Prior to this, the central government had ordered a CBI probe into many cases of ethnic violence in Manipur.