The Supreme Court on August 1, said the Manipur Government’s status report on 6,523 FIRs registered point to a “complete breakdown of the constitutional machinery” in the State from the beginning of May till the end of July during the ethnic violence.

This shows that from the beginning of May till the end of July, there was an absolute breakdown of constitutional machinery. There was no law in the State — a complete breakdown of law and order. If law and order cannot protect citizens, where are we left?” Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, heading a three-judge Bench, asked the Manipur Government, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

The Supreme Court directed the Manipur Director General of Police to be personally present in the Court on August 7. The Court said the State Police Chief should be in a position to answer the questions of the court.

‘Lapse of time’

In its order, the Court said, on prima facie analysis, the police investigation into the cases was “tardy”. There was a “considerable lapse of time” between the occurrence of the incidents and the registration of FIRs and recording of witness statements. Arrests were made “few and far between”, the Bench noted.

Mehta surmised that the police may have been restricted as the situation in the State on the ground was not “conducive”.

“From May 4 to July 27, the picture is clear that the police were not in charge… Was the situation so not conducive that even FIRs could not be registered? Except for one or two cases there are no arrests at all. The investigation was so lethargic… FIRs were registered in many cases after only two months. Statements were not recorded” Chief Justice Chandrachud observed.

The Court asked how over 6,000 cases could be single-handedly probed by the CBI. The Chief Justice said the burden of probing so many cases may leave the CBI itself “dysfunctional”.

The hearing saw the court peruse the status report prepared overnight by the State government for the Court. The Court found a case in which a mother was dragged out of her car and lynched along with her son by a mob on May 4. The FIR was registered only on July 23.

The Court chanced upon another case in which a man was “done to death” and his house set on fire. Again, the FIR was registered two months later. In another case, the CCTV footage was found to be “auto-deleted” by the time the investigators began their job.

The State government’s status report said there were 150 deaths, including 59 deaths between May 3 and May 5. Another 28 persons lost their lives between May 27 and May 29. Thirteen more died in the violence on June 9.

The report showed that 502 people were injured in the clashes. There were 5101 cases of arson. It said 252 persons were arrested and another 1,274 were arrested as a preventive measure.

‘Transfer 11 FIRs to CBI’

The report said that a preliminary examination of the 6,523 cases show that 11 FIRs involve crimes against women and children, but this again was subject to further verification. Seven arrests have been made in the 11 cases.

Mehta said the Centre, with the consent of the Manipur Government, was willing to transfer these 11 FIRs to the CBI as an immediate measure. Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta said there was a twelfth FIR of a woman burnt alive while advocate Nizam Pasha, for Zomi Students Federation, said five FIRs highlighted by him were not among the 11 in the list presented by the Solicitor General. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves said there was a case of a young boy beheaded.

‘Inadequate information’

The Court said the information provided by the State in the current status report was “inadequate”. Chief Justice Chandrachud said the FIRs have not been “disaggregated”.

“You have not said how many of these cases involve murder or rape, arson and looting, destruction of house and property, destruction of religious worship, grievous hurt, etc,” the court addressed the State Government.

The Court directed the State to give by the next hearing on August 7 the dates of commission of offences; dates of registration of zero FIRs; dates on which witness statements were recorded in these cases; dates on which Section 161 statements were recorded and dates of arrests and the names of the accused persons in the FIRs.