SC announces panel of 3 female ex-HC judges for relief, rehab of Manipur victims

The Supreme Court on Monday (August 7) announced the setting up of a committee of three former female high court judges to look into the relief and rehabilitation of those affected in the Manipur violence.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said the committee will be headed by former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal and include Justices (retd) Shalini P Joshi and Asha Menon.

The bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the effort of the apex court is to restore a sense of confidence and faith in the rule of law in the state.

Senior cops to supervise probe

It said besides the judicial panel that will oversee relief and rehabilitation efforts among other things, senior police officers will be asked to supervise the investigation in criminal cases to be probed by the state SITs.

The bench said a detailed order will be uploaded on the apex court website later in the evening.

During the day, the Supreme Court heard a clutch of petitions related to the unending ethnic violence in Manipur, with the state government proposing to set up SITs headed by district Superintendents of Police to probe cases.

Manipur DGP Rajiv Singh appeared before a bench headed by Chief justice DY Chandrachud to answer queries on the violence and steps taken by the government so far besides the segregation of cases for effective investigation.

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Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and state governments, submitted the report the apex court had sought on August 1 on issues including the segregation of cases.

The government is handling the situation at a very mature level, the attorney general told the bench, which also included justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

Manipur SITs

They said the state government proposed to set up SITs, headed by the superintendents of police, at district level to probe sensitive cases, besides 11 cases which will be investigated by the CBI.

On August 1, the top court said there was a complete breakdown of law and order and constitutional machinery in Manipur.

It had rapped the police for a tardy and lethargic probe of incidents of ethnic violence, especially those targeting women, and had summoned the DGP to answer its queries on August 7.

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The Centre had urged the bench that instead of the two FIRs related to a video showing women being paraded naked by a mob, 11 out of 6,523 FIRs linked to violence against women and children may be transferred to the CBI and tried out of Manipur.

The bench is hearing around 10 petitions relating to the violence seeking relief besides measures for rehabilitation and other relief.

(With agency inputs)