'Dealing With Systemic Violence', Not An 'Isolated' Situation Like Nirbhaya: What CJI Said On Manipur

Manipur Viral Video Case: Pulling up the state police, the CJI asked why it took 14 days to register an FIR over the incident and posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday.

A candle march was held in Delhi to condemn the sexual assault of two women in Manipur

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The Supreme Court on Monday said the case of two tribal women paraded naked and sexually assaulted in violence-hit Manipur was "horrendous" and merely entrusting the matter to CBI or SIT would not be enough. The Supreme Court also pulled up the police over the delay in registering an FIR on the incident. 

The Centre told the court that 6,000 FIRs were lodged since ethnic violence erupted in Manipur on May 2. However, a break-up of such cases were available. The Supreme Court sought a break-up of such cases, including crimes against women, and posted the matter for Tuesday.

On July 20, the Supreme Court had taken suo moto cognisance of the issue after the video of two women in Manipur went viral.

READ | Cannot Justify What Happened In Manipur By Saying...: Supreme Court On Viral Video Case

Manipur Viral Video Hearing In Supreme Court: Top Quotes

• CJI Chancrachud said the Manipur viral video incident cannot be seen as a standalone offence and called it a part of systemic violence. "There are statements by the victims that they were handed over to the mob by police. This is not a situation like 'Nirbhaya'. That was also horrific but it was isolated. Here we are dealing with systemic violence which IPC recognises as a special offence," the CJI said.
• The CJI said there was a great need to have "healing touch" in the state, which has seen over 120 deaths due to the ethnic clashes. "Our idea is ultimately that we restore the faith of the community in constitutional process. That's the message we need to send," the CJI said.
• The bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, floated the idea of constituting a committee of women and male judges and domain experts. "This is not in terms of just trying to figure out what has happened but we also need to rebuild lives," the court said.
• Pulling up the state police, the CJI asked why it took 14 days to register an FIR over the incident. "What were the police doing from May 4 to May 18? The incident came to light that women are being paraded naked and at least two were raped. What were the police doing?" the CJI said.
• The CJI also expressed surprise that the state does not have the facts regarding the number of FIRs and the bifurcation. "We need to know bifurcation of 6000 FIRs, how many zero FIRs, how many forwarded to jurisdictional magistrate, action taken, how many in judicial custody, how many involving sexual violence, position of legal aid, how many 164 statements recorded so far," CJI said.
• The top court said it was dealing with an "unprecedented magnitude" of violence against women in communal and sectarian strife. CJI Chandrachud said we cannot justify what happened in Manipur "by saying that this and this happened elsewhere".
• Earlier in the day, the two women survivors seen in the viral video approached the Supreme Court. Their counsel, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, told the bench that they were opposed to the Centre's proposal to hand over the investigation to the CBI.
• Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the Centre had no objection to the Supreme Court monitoring the investigation.
• Senior advocate Indira Jaising said a high powered committee comprising of women from civil society should be constituted for confidence building measures. "Victims of rape do not talk about it, they are in trauma. First is confidence building mechanism by a high powered committee...woman driven from civil society. Uma Chakravarty, Syeda Hameed, Roshni Goswami etc they are all rooted to the issue in the community...let them submit a report to you," Jaising said.
• Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who appeared for the Kuki side in the Manipur violence case, opposed the CBI probe and sought an investigation by SIT comprising retired DGPs. He also asked the Supreme Court not to include any officer from Manipur.