Supreme Court allows CBI to record statements of women paraded naked in Manipur

The central government on Tuesday offered to transfer all the FIRs concerning crimes against women in Manipur to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Manipur government, offered to transfer such cases to the central probe agency after the Supreme Court came down heavily on the state police for the law and order situation in the strife-torn Manipur and their alleged lack of action in cases of violence.

The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said the police inaction in registering FIRs, making arrests, and recording statements give the court the impression that “from the beginning of May till the end of July there was no law.”

“There was an absolute breakdown of machinery that you could not even register FIR. Does it not point to the fact that there is a complete breakdown of law and order and the machinery of the State?” the CJI asked.

The bench asked the Manipur director general of police to furnish data on all FIRs registered, the nature of crimes involved and arrests made.

The court has also allowed the CBI to record the statements of the victims in the viral video case in which two women were stripped and paraded by a mob and were subjected to sexual assault.

Earlier in the day, the top court directed the CBI not to proceed with recording the statements of the victim women during the day as it was scheduled to hear a batch of petitions on the issue at 2pm.

At the outset, the Manipur government told the bench it has lodged 6,523 FIRs after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur in May.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the Manipur government, told the bench the state police lodged ‘zero’ FIR in the case of parading the two women naked.

Mehta told the top court that Manipur police have arrested seven people, including a juvenile, in the video case.

The next hearing will be on August 7.