The Supreme Court on August 1 asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to put on hold the recording of the statement of the tribal women victims in the Manipur viral video case till it hears the main case today at 2 pm.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to convey to the CBI to await the outcome of today’s hearing. The apex court asked the CBI to wait for further order before going ahead with the recording of the statement after an advocate Nizam Pasha appearing for the Kuki side informed the court that CBI was on its way to record the statement at noon today.
“Ask the CBI to wait till the outcome of today’s hearing,” the CJI said.
Solicitor General said it was done in good faith but he will convey to the CBI to refrain from recording the statement.
On July 31, the top court post indicated setting up a panel to record the statements of the survivors and a Special Investigation Team to probe the case.
The women victims have also filed a plea in the top court yesterday against the CBI probe into their case and sought security for them and also prayed for a direction to record their statement under Section 164 of CrPC by the nearest area magistrate.
They also sought a probe into their case by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the monitoring of the top court.
At the request of the State, the Centre has already ordered a CBI probe into the May 4 incident and asked the court to transfer the trial outside Manipur with a mandate to complete the trial in six months.
The bench will hear today’s plea of victims who were paraded naked and a batch of petitions relating to the ethnic violence which has been going on in the State since May.
On July 20, the Supreme Court took cognizance of the viral video of two women being paraded naked and subjected to sexual violence in Manipur. The video was from May 4. “We are very deeply disturbed by the videos which have emerged yesterday about the two women who were paraded in Manipur. We are expressing our deep concern. It is time that the government really steps in and takes action. This is simply unacceptable,” the Chief Justice said.
Clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023, during the solidarity march by the Tribal Students Union against the listing of the Meitei community in the ST list. Over 145 people have lost their lives in the ongoing violence, and more than 60000 people were displaced.
