Manipur Violence: Apex Court To Hear Pleas Tomorrow, Union Minister Says Centre Ready For Talks — Top Points

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narashima and JB Pardiwala will hear the matter on Monday.

Army personnel rescue people from a violence-hit area of Manipur

Source : PTI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is set to hear a batch of petitions on the Manipur situation on Monday, including one by a ruling BJP MLA who challenged the high court order on the issue of Scheduled Tribe status to the Meitei community and a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by a tribal outfit for an SIT probe into the violence that rocked the northeastern state last week. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narashima and JB Pardiwala will hear the matter.

The clashes between Meiteis and the tribals broke out in Churachandpur district last Wednesday, as the tribals opposed reservation to the Meiteis. This came after the March 27 Manipur High Court order that asked the state government to send a recommendation to the Centre within four weeks on the demand for ST status by the Meitei community.

Here are the key developments:

• Security advisor on Manipur violence Kuldeep Singh said that the situation is under control. He also said that while various agency reports claim more casualties than 37, the authority is still verifying the information. Some areas of Churachandpur, Kangpokpi, and Moreh are still tense, however, peace meetings are being held, he said, adding 134 arms have been recovered so far.
• Among the batch of petitions filed in the top court was a plea by ruling BJP MLA Dinganglung Gangmei, who in his appeal said the Hills Area Committee (HAC), as quoted by PTI, "was a necessary and proper party and the proceedings before the High Court were vitiated on account of not making the HAC a party”.
• Gangmei further said that due to impugned order tension between both the community, violent clashes erupted across the state. His appeal said, “As a result of it so far 19 tribal people have been killed, various places in the states are blocked, the internet is completely shutdown and more people are at risk of losing their lives.”
• Manipur Tribal Forum NGO based in the state moved the Apex Court under Article 32 of the Constitution on account of the extreme situation arising out of the attacks on the tribal community in Manipur by a “dominant group,” reported PTI.
• Union Minister for Development of the North Eastern Region G Kishan Reddy said on Sunday the Central government was ready for talks to resolve the conflict in Manipur, PTI reported. Reddy stated that the Centre was not adamant when it came to people's welfare, and that it even withdrew three Farm Laws after agriculturists demanded that the controversial regulations be repealed.
• Meanwhile, as curfew was relaxed in parts of Manipur on Sunday, life began to limp back to normalcy under the watchful eyes of army drones and helicopters deployed for aerial reconnaissance.
• "Please come forward to solve the issues in a peaceful manner. The Indian Government is ready. You have seen the farmers’ issue. When it was peaceful, we tried to convince them. As the issue was not resolved, we agreed to their demand, and those Bills (three farm laws) were withdrawn. So the Indian Government is not adamant," Reddy was quoted as saying by PTI.
• As per reports, a total of 23,000 civilians were rescued and moved to operating base military Garrisons, with the help of the Army and Assam Rifles.
• Taking to Twitter, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sagma wrote, “Students from Tura, Shillong and other locations studying in Manipur landed safely and are being sent back home. 70 more students will be brought back home tonight.”