New Delhi
In line of Opposition fire, the Government has decided to get the case of sexual assault on two women, who were stripped and paraded by a mob in Manipur, probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The Government has maintained it has “zero tolerance towards any crimes against women” and informed the Supreme Court that it has transferred the case to the CBI.
In an affidavit filed through its Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, the Ministry of Home Affairs also urged the apex court to transfer the trial outside Manipur for its time-bound conclusion. The top court had, on July 20, taken note of the incident and said it was “deeply disturbed” by the video and the use of women as instruments for perpetrating violence was “simply unacceptable in a constitutional democracy”.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had directed the Centre and the Manipur Government to take immediate remedial, rehabilitative and preventive steps and apprise it of the action taken. It had warned that if the Government did not act, then the apex court will.
Government sources said no effort will be spared to ensure stringent action against the accused in all heinous crimes in the State hit by ethnic violence since May 3. The video of the women paraded naked after being stripped came out in the open last week through the leak of a video of the horrific incident. Seven persons have been arrested in the case so far.
The person who filmed the incident, along with six others, has been arrested and his mobile phone seized, the sources said, adding the recovery of the mobile will also establish the sequence of events, including the leakage of the video.
The timing of surfacing of the video — just before the commencement of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament — too has been questioned by some BJP leaders and the CBI is likely to probe this particular aspect too.
The probe into five of the more serious cases involving the Manipur clashes has already been handed over to the CBI, according to the sources.
The video of the May 4 incident sparked nationwide outrage and has given the Opposition a major opportunity to corner the Modi government over the issue which has rocked the Monsoon session of Parliament since it began on July 20.
Sources said that the Union Home Ministry is in touch with both Meitei and Kuki groups and talks are in an advanced stage to restore normalcy in the State, wherein more than 160 people have been killed so far.
