Photo Courtesy: nenow
Imphal: The Supreme Court is pushing for faster justice in Manipur. It proposed setting up special courts to handle day-to-day trials for cases linked to the 2023 ethnic violence. Justice Surya Kant led a bench with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana to address the massive backlog.
The court found that many victims and their families have yet to receive copies of chargesheets filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the state Special Investigation Team. It ordered these agencies to hand over the documents within seven days. Legal aid lawyers can now go to the offices of the Chief Justices of the Gauhati and Manipur High Courts to secure these files.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati represents the Centre, the state, the CBI, and the SIT. The bench ordered her to submit a full breakdown of completed and pending investigations. "The data would assist it in assessing how many special courts would be necessary to facilitate the speedy disposal of the cases," the court noted. This information determines exactly how many courtrooms need to open.
The Manipur High Court must now investigate the status of 30 people reported missing since the riots began. Simultaneously, the CBI, the SIT, and a monitoring committee led by former Maharashtra police chief Dattatray Padsalgikar must submit fresh status reports.
Ethnic clashes erupted on May 3, 2023. A Tribal Solidarity March in the hill districts sparked the rage against the Meitei community’s bid for Scheduled Tribe status. The bloodshed killed more than 200 people. It left hundreds injured. Thousands remain displaced from their homes.
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