New Delhi
Intervening to restore normalcy in the strife-torn State, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered setting up of a committee of three former women high court judges to oversee relief and rehabilitation of victims and compensation to them besides asking former Maharashtra police chief Dattatray Padsalgikar to monitor the probe in criminal cases. The top court also decided to monitor the overall situation there “to restore people’s faith in the rule of law”.
The three members of the committee will be Justice Gita Mittal (former Chief Justice of J&K HC), Justice Shalini Joshi (former Judge of Bombay High Court), and Justice Asha Menon (former judge of Delhi High Court), it said adding “This committee will be looking at things apart from investigation – including relief, remedial measures etc”. The Court said the panel will be submitting reports to it directly.
This apart, there will be 42 SITs looking at cases not been transferred to CBI and all these SITs would be supervised by DIG-ranked officers from outside Manipur. Each officer will monitor six SITs to ensure that the investigations are going on correctly.
For offences against women being probed by the CBI, there will be five officers of at least the rank of DySP, brought into the agency from various states, the court said.
The Supreme Court also appointed former Maharashtra DGP Dattatray Padsalgikar to oversee the CBI probe into Manipur ethnic violence cases and report back to it to ensure that the investigation was carried on properly.
The Centre said district-wise SITs will be formed to probe cases related to violence. The SC reserved its order on the plea seeking Court Monitored Committee to investigate violence related cases in Manipur.
“Without allowing any external investigation, let SITs be formed at district levels,” Attorney General R Venkataramani said.
If there are more than 11 First Information Reports, or FIRs, pertaining to crime against women which are being probed by the CBI, they will be probed by district level SITs headed by an SP-rank officer, who will all be women, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said.
“The CBI team, which will be investigating this, has two lady SP officers. CBI has officers from all across the country. We have taken that balance,” he said.
The Attorney General also told the court the government is handling the situation on a very mature level and has filed an affidavit with segregation of cases.
The Centre had urged the bench that instead of the two FIRs related to a video showing women being paraded naked by a mob, 11 out of 6,523 FIRs linked to violence against women and children may be transferred to the CBI and tried out of Manipur.
The bench was hearing around 10 petitions relating to the violence.
As many as six people were killed and 16 wounded by gun and mortar fire besides grenade attacks in the unrelenting war between the Kukis and Meiteis in the latest flare up.
MEANWHILE
The apex body of tribals in Manipur Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday and raise their five key demands, including a separate political administration and a mass burial in Churachandpur district of the Kuki-Zo community members killed in the ethnic violence since May 3. A five-member delegation of ITLF will hold talks with the Home Minister and place the demands.
