NEW DELHI: Amid allegations of police collusion in the recent ethnic violence in Manipur, the Supreme Court has said those responsible for breach of public duty must be brought to account, regardless of their rank and post.
“Every officer of the state or other employee of the state who is guilty not only of the dereliction of their constitutional and official duties but of colluding with perpetrators to become offenders themselves, must be held accountable without fail,” a three-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said in its August 7 order that was released late Thursday evening.
It noted there were serious allegations, including witness statements indicating the law-enforcing machinery had been inept in controlling the violence and, in certain situations, colluded with the perpetrators.
The Bench has already asked former Maharashtra DGP Dattatray Padsalgikar to oversee the probe into the Manipur ethnic violence cases. It asked Padsalgikar to investigate the allegations that certain police officers colluded with perpetrators of violence.
Expressing anguish over the manner in which women had been subjected to grave acts of sexual violence during the sectarian strife in Manipur, the Bench said: “Subjecting women to sexual crimes and violence is completely unacceptable and constitutes a grave violation of the constitutional values of dignity, personal liberty and autonomy all of which are protected as core fundamental rights…”.
The court directed the Justice Gita Mittal-led three-member women judges’ panel to submit a report on the steps required to meet the needs of survivors, including measures for dealing with rape trauma, providing social, economic, and psychological support, relief and rehabilitation in a time bound manner.
It asked the panel to file a compliance report to it in six weeks with full particulars of the case, victim/witness, compensation awarded, date of payment and the persons to whom the payment was made and thereafter updated status reports on a fortnightly basis.