The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Centre on the delay in filing of the First Information Report (FIR) on May 18, even though the incident took place on May 4.
“What were the police doing from May 4 to May 18? The incident came to light recently that women are being paraded naked and at least two were raped. What were the police doing?” the bench asked.
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The bench, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, said that whatever happened in Manipur cannot be justified by saying that it happens elsewhere in the country.
“This is not a situation like Nirbhaya which was one rape committed – that was also horrific but it was isolated. Here we are dealing with systemic violence which IPC recognises as a separate offence,” he said.
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“We are dealing with something of unprecedented magnitude of violence against women. Tell me what is the suggestion from you in the Manipur case? We cannot justify what happened in Manipur by saying that this happened elsewhere,” he added.
Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the government has nothing to hide and that the government has no problem if the SC monitors the investigation into the Manipur violence.
The bench will also set up a court-appointed committee of officers with no political alignment to investigate the crisis in Manipur.
“So to restore a sense of faith in the administration, a court-appointed team has its own message to send that the highest appointed court is deeply concerned – it will send officers with no political alignment,” it stated.
The CJI noted, “We are running out of time, three months have gone. We will form a committee. This is not in terms of just trying to figure out what has happened but we also need to rebuild lives.”
The apex court has scheduled the next hearing of the case on August 1 at 2.00 pm.