New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Monday sought to know from the Centre why the FIR in the sexual assault and parade case in Manipur was registered after a delay of 14 days.
“The incident of two women being paraded naked came to light on May 4, then why did it take 14 days for the Manipur police to register the FIR”, a bench led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud. The video of the incident had gone viral on July 19 following which the apex court had directed the Centre and the State to act immediately.
Maintaining that time was running out for them and there is a great need to have healing touch in the State, the bench also sought a detailed status in terms of break-up of cases, number of zero FIRs, number of arrests, and number of Section 164 statements. It also asked the Centre as well as the State government to inform what kind of legal aid is being provided to them besides the package for rehabilitation being provided to the State for affected people.
Hearing a batch of petitions including the case filed by the two women victims, the bench, also comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra even contemplated on the composition of a committee that could be set up to probe the violence.
“One thing we can do is to have a committee of woman judges and domain experts or to have a committee of woman and male judges. If we are not satisfied with what has been done so far that will define the extent of our intervention,” it said.
Emphasising that the Manipur sexual assault and parade incident was not just one case like Nirbhaya and is a perpetration of systemic violence, the Supreme Court stressed for evolving a broad mechanism to deal with violence against women in strife-torn Manipur.
Appearing for the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, said the Centre has no objection if the apex court monitors the investigation into the Manipur violence. The hearing will continue on Tuesday.
Politically, the face-off between the Government and the Opposition continued in Parliament and outside. The Opposition did not agree to Rajya Sabha chairman’s decision for a Short Duration Discussion on Manipur violence and later sought an appointment from President Droupadi Murmu.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will lead the floor leaders of the House and the 21 MPs from the I.N.D.I.A grouping who returned from a two-day visit to Manipur on Sunday to take up the issue of Manipur with the President.
MEANWHILE
- The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider a new Public Interest Litigation (PIL) requesting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) inquiry into alleged poppy cultivation and narco-terrorism in Manipur.
- The West Bengal assembly on Monday passed a motion condemning the violence in Manipur, amid opposition by the BJP. After State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay read out the motion in the House, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the role of the BJP and the Union government in tackling the situation in the strife-torn state.
- All seven opposition members of the Goa legislative assembly were suspended for two days on Monday after they protested and created a ruckus on the floor of the House over Manipur violence. The suspended members are Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao, Congress MLAs Altone D’Costa and Carlos Ferreira, AAP’s Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva, Goa Forward Party’s Vijai Sardesai, and Viresh Borkar of Revolutionary Goans Party.
