“Absolute Breakdown Of Constitutional Machinery In Manipur”; Supreme Court summoned Manipur DGP over ‘lethargic’ investigation into cases of gross violations

'Incapable or Uninterested' - In scathing remarks the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday has pulled up the Manipur Government over the ongoing turmoil in the state that has seen killing of more than 180 people in the past 3 months, called it “absolute breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state”.

As the hearing began on Tuesday, Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General informed the bench that 6,523 FIRs related to the violence have been registered by state police, and 11 out of them are related to crimes against women and children. CJI DY Chandrachud and the bench expressed aghast over the handling of cases and observed the investigation has been “lethargic and tardy”, ordered Manipur top cop, the DGP to be personally present at the court on Friday when the hearing resumes once again.


"Based on the preliminary data, it does prima facie appear that the investigation has been tardy. There has been a considerable lapse between the occurrence and the registration of FIRs, recording of witness statements and even the arrests are few and far between. In order to enable the court to appreciate the entire dimensions of the nature of investigation that is required, we direct the DGP of Manipur to be personally present in the Court at Friday 2 PM and be in a position of answer the queries of the Court", the Court observed in the order.

SC asked as how many policemen were examined over the incident of two women being paraded naked and violated since they have alleged that they were taken back to the mob and handed over instead of rescuing them on May 4. CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, who are hearing a bunch of petitions on the Manipur violence, including those by victims of sexual violence, was dismayed to learn that in several such cases even FIRs have not been registered in close to 3 months. Tushar Mehta tried to apprise the court about the volatility of the situation on ground, at times impairing police to go to some of the areas for the sake of investigation. “State police is incapable of investigation. They have lost control. There is absolutely no law and order,” observed the CJI on Tuesday.

SC came down heavily in the delay in filing cases. "One thing is very clear. There is such a long delay in filing FIRs. FIR was registered on 7th of July in respect of an incident of 4th of May. It was a serious incident" said CJI after going through the report submitted by the SG. SC in pointed quested as the SC as when were the FIRs registered, how many of them were zero FIRs, how many statements under 164 were recorded? The SG couldn’t clarify most of these points. He however asserted that 7 arrests were made in respect of the viral video incident and altogether 250 arrests have been made and 12000 arrests as preventive measures.

Meanwhile the Manipur issue continued to storm both houses in parliament during the ongoing monsoon session with opposition unrelenting with their demand for a statement from the Prime Minister on the issue on the floor of the house.