NEW DELHI: Noting that there appeared to be a “breakdown of constitutional machinery” in Manipur in dealing with the ethnic violence that targeted women, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the state’s DGP to appear before it in person on August 7 to answer queries on lapses on the part of the police.
“In order to enable the court to appreciate the entire dimensions of the nature of investigation that is required, we direct the DGP to be personally present in the court at 2 pm on Monday and be in a position to answer the queries of the court,” a three-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said.
“The investigation is so lethargic. FIRs registered after two months. Arrests not made. Statements recorded after a long lapse of time…. This gives an impression that from the beginning of May till the end of July, there was no law… there was a breakdown of constitutional machinery…. May be, it’s correct that arrest could not be made because the police could not enter the locality,” said the Bench, which also included Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.
Noting that it would not be possible for the CBI to probe such a large number of cases, the Bench said it intended to set up a panel of retired judges to look into the matter.
Terming it as impractical to transfer all the cases “lock, stock and barrel” to the CBI, the CJI said an independent body needed to be constituted. The Bench, which had on July 20 taken suo motu cognisance of a video showing two women being paraded naked in ethnic violence-hit Manipur, asked the state government to segregate the 6,532 FIRs in terms of category of offences.
At the outset, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted a status report on behalf of the Manipur Government and admitted that the situation on the ground was very bad. Mehta said 6,532 FIRs had been registered. He said 11 of the FIRs related to offences against women and the Manipur Police had arrested seven persons.
“In 6,000 FIRs, you have made seven arrests,” the Bench wondered. Clarifying that the seven arrests were made in respect of the viral video incident, Mehta said 250 arrests had been made in connection with the cases and 12,000 people had been put under preventive detention. “Your Lordships’ words may have consequences… these could be used or misused in ways that were not intended”, Mehta told the Bench. Earlier in the day, the SC restrained the CBI from recording statements of the women whose video of being paraded went viral.