The Supreme Court on Friday granted time to Dattatray Padsalgikar, former Maharashtra Director General of Police, who was appointed by the Apex Court to supervise the CBI probe into 11 cases of crimes committed against women and children in ethnic violence, to monitor the situation and said it would seek a status report later.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra passed the instruction, while hearing a bunch of petitions seeking relief and rehabilitation measures for the victims of ethnic violence in Manipur.
Padsalgikar was appointed by the Apex Court on August 7 to ‘supervise’ the CBI probe, as well as investigation by the State machinery into the remaining FIRs.
Meanwhile, the government of Manipur filed a status report in the Apex Court on the recovery of arms from all sources in the state.
The Apex Court had directed the State of Manipur on September 6 to file additional status reports on certain issues raised in the court such as the recovery of arms looted from police stations and camps, upgrading of the victim compensation scheme and dealing with the dead bodies.
The top court of the country was earlier apprised that besides illegal ones, a huge cache of arms and ammunition were stolen from police stations and army depots in the state.
The CJI had then ordered filing of a status report on recovery of arms ‘only’ for this court, while observing that he, personally as a judge, was averse to filing any such documents which were not available to litigants.
Appearing for both the Central and State government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta today filed the status report on the recovery of arms, stating that it was for the perusal of judges only.
The SG also filed an affidavit stating that the issues being debated in the court have already been brought to the notice of the three-member committee, which was constituted by the top court of the country on August 7.
Headed by former Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Gita Mittal, the committee has been given a broad-based mandate to oversee government actions, including relief and rehabilitation measures, apart from compensation for the victims of ethnic violence.
Appearing for the petitioners, Advocate Vrinda Grover apprised the Apex Court that the bodies of two women, who were gangraped and killed in May in Manipur, have not been given to their families yet.
The SG said that the committee has already taken cognisance of this and issued directions to the authorities.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted time to Dattatray Padsalgikar, former Maharashtra Director General of Police, who was appointed by the Apex Court to supervise the CBI probe into 11 cases of crimes committed against women and children in ethnic violence, to monitor the situation and said it would seek a status report later.
The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra passed the instruction, while hearing a bunch of petitions seeking relief and rehabilitation measures for the victims of ethnic violence in Manipur.
Padsalgikar was appointed by the Apex Court on August 7 to ‘supervise’ the CBI probe, as well as investigation by the State machinery into the remaining FIRs.
Meanwhile, the government of Manipur filed a status report in the Apex Court on the recovery of arms from all sources in the state.
The Apex Court had directed the State of Manipur on September 6 to file additional status reports on certain issues raised in the court such as the recovery of arms looted from police stations and camps, upgrading of the victim compensation scheme and dealing with the dead bodies.
The top court of the country was earlier apprised that besides illegal ones, a huge cache of arms and ammunition were stolen from police stations and army depots in the state.
The CJI had then ordered filing of a status report on recovery of arms ‘only’ for this court, while observing that he, personally as a judge, was averse to filing any such documents which were not available to litigants.
Appearing for both the Central and State government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta today filed the status report on the recovery of arms, stating that it was for the perusal of judges only.
The SG also filed an affidavit stating that the issues being debated in the court have already been brought to the notice of the three-member committee, which was constituted by the top court of the country on August 7.
Headed by former Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Gita Mittal and comprising Justice (retd) Shalini P Joshi and Justice Asha Menon, the committee has been given a broad-based mandate to oversee government actions, including relief and rehabilitation measures, apart from compensation for the victims of ethnic violence.
Senior Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the organisation Women in Governance and assisting the court, apprised the Apex Court that the bodies of two victims of sexual violence, who were raped and killed on May 4, have not yet been returned to the families.
She contended that despite writing to the nodal officers and the committee, no action has been taken in respect of the bodies.
Mehta submitted that the committee has taken cognisance of the grievance and issued certain directions to the state government, which were being implemented.
Senior Advocate Indira Jaising, appearing on behalf of Mahua Moitra, member of Lok Sabha from Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal, and assisting the court, raised the concern that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not filed a status report on the investigation of cases transferred to them.
Jaising submitted that since the court was monitoring the investigation, the CBI was bound to provide an update on the investigation.
The Senior Advocate further requested the Apex Court to facilitate coordination between the committee providing psycho-social support to the victims of violence and Padsalgikar, who was looking into the investigation of the cases.
Mehta then argued that CBI was not mandated to give updates to the court. He pointed out that the top court of the country had ‘purposefully’ appointed officer Padsalgikar to supervise the investigation.
The Bench then observed that Padsalgikar, a seasoned officer from the Maharashtra police cadre who has served extensively in the Northeast, has visited Manipur and was aware of the sensitivities of the case.
The Apex Court allowed Padsalgikar time to monitor the situation and thereafter ask for a status report. It then listed the matter for further hearing on September 25.