Hearing On Manipur Viral Video Case Not To Be Held In Supreme Court Today. Here Is Why

The SC had sought the responses of the Centre and Manipur govt on the steps taken by it to book the perpetrators seen in the video in which two tribal women were paraded naked in Manipur.

Barricades are erected in Imphal amid continuing violence in Manipur

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The Supreme Court will not be hearing the case pertaining to the viral video case in Manipur on Friday due to non-availability of the Chief Justice of India. A Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Misra, had on July 20 sought the responses of the Centre and Manipur government on the steps taken by it to book the perpetrators seen in the video in which two tribal women were paraded naked in Manipur.

On Thursday, the Centre, in an affidavit, said the CBI would probe the video incident and asserted that the government had "zero tolerance towards any crimes against women".

The affidavit was filed in response to a suo motu case registered by the Supreme Court after the video of the incident, which was shot on May 4, went viral on social media, triggering nationwide outrage.

READ | Centre To Refer Manipur Viral Video Case To CBI, Request SC For Trial Outside State

The Supreme Court had 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".

The affidavit, filed by the Home Ministry, also urged the apex court to transfer the trial of the case outside Manipur for its completion in a time-bound manner. The Centre requested the SC to pass directions to transfer the probe to a state other than Manipur.

Seven persons have been arrested in the case so far. "They have been booked for various offences including rape and murder," the affidavit further said.

Detailing the steps taken by the government, the affidavit said several police teams were formed to arrest the culprits and an additional Superintendent of Police (SP)-rank officer was entrusted to investigate the viral video case, PTI reported.

The Centre also informed the court that the Manipur government had formed "district psychological support teams for providing mental health intervention at various relief camps".

"To prevent repetition of such incidents, reporting of all such cases to the Director General of Police (DGP) by the police station in-charge of the jurisdiction has been made mandatory," it further said.