By Sujit Bhar
Ninety-plus days of uncontrolled violence has rocked Manipur, two women have been paraded naked and brutally gang-raped, killings have been rampant and though the official death figure hovers around 142, unclaimed corpses still lie in the gutters, in fields, in morgues and within scorched hutments. A complete picture of the unthinkable barbarism will, probably, never be painted.
The government was barely around to stop the torture, especially of Kukis by Meiteis; security personnel barely interfered, and to cap it all, the internet was cut off, which resulted in the video of the barbaric parading of the girls not coming to light till very late.
The country’s justice system had to interfere, and its head, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, did. He lambasted the governments at the centre and in the state, as well as the entire security establishment that had all along been silent spectators to the inhuman acts of violence. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of what had become hell on earth.
News of violence from Manipur was filtering in, even through biased media networks, but as the horrific video of the two girls being paraded naked came to light through social media and went viral, the sheer immensity of the barbarism jolted the country awake.
As the CJI initiated suo motu action, the two Kuki girls who had been ravaged and gang-raped, paraded through the streets naked, picked up courage and arrived at the doors of the country’s top court for justice.
The CJI was livid. He was quoted as saying that the “perpetration of violence against women” in Manipur was of “unprecedented magnitude”. He added that there was a “complete breakdown” of law and order and of constitutional machinery in the state and added that the state police had “lost control over the situation.”
Strange arguments
Strangely enough, instead of agreeing with the top court and lending support to find a solution to the huge problem, certain biased and interested parties wanted to share incidents of rape from other, non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled states to try and impress upon the Supreme Court that the Manipur incident was nothing special and that since similar incidents happened in other states, this should be treated as the norm.
In an intervention plea advocate Bansuri Swaraj said: “After this horrific incident in Manipur, an identical incident (sic) happened in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.”
Trying to sidestep the serious criminal act in Manipur, Swaraj talked about how “9,304 FIRs were filed in West Bengal, but only 3 per cent of the accused were held… The conscience of civil society is definitely woken up here in this instance (Manipur). And what is happening in Manipur cannot be condoned. But bone-chilling facts are coming to light. After what happened in Manipur, similar things are happening in West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Kerala. Kindly protect all daughters of India and not limit that mechanism only to Manipur,” she said.
The top court was aghast at the insensitive nature and line of the argument. The CJI asked: “Were you for a moment saying that do something for all the daughters of India or don’t do anything for anyone at all?”
“It’s the magnitude of the problem”
On the first day of hearing, the bench, which also includes Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, made its stand clear. The CJI said: “The only distinction is this. Undoubtedly, there are crimes which are taking place against women all over the country. That’s a part of our social reality. We are, however, dealing with something which is of unprecedented magnitude, namely crimes and perpetration of violence against women in a situation of communal or sectarian strife of the nature that is taking place in Manipur. There is no gainsaying the fact that there are crimes which are taking place against women, possibly as you say in West Bengal as well.”
On the second day of hearing, the court refused to put its flame of ire on simmer and ordered the state’s Director General of Police (DGP) to appear in person at the next hearing, on August 7. Meanwhile, the court had handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI) and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench that two of the 11 FIRs on violence against women and children had been transferred to the CBI.
The problem is that while initially the police was unwilling to lodge FIRs, finally the number of FIRs exceeded 6,000, nearing 7,000. As the solicitor general mentioned about just a few FIRs, the court asked him if the CBI could investigate over 6,000 FIRs. “…what about the remaining (FIRs), assuming they don’t go to the CBI? Is the state police incapable of investigating? It’s so obvious they have lost control over the situation. There is no law and order left. Absolutely no law and order left,” the CJI stressed.
The CJI was composed, yet the disgust he felt over the situation came out in his measured words. He said: “Look at the way the investigation is so lethargic. It appears that except for one or two FIRs, there was no arrest at all… statements recorded after such a lapse of time.”
The solicitor general seemed at a loss for words, explaining: “Not justifying, but given the situation on the ground, that (delay) may have happened. Maybe they were deployed more on the law and order front.”
Nowhere to go
However, the CJI caught Mehta plumb in front of the wicket. The CJI countered: “That means for two months, the situation was not conducive for recording FIRs… It seems to give us the impression that from the beginning of May until towards the end of July, there was no law… there was a breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state. To the point that you cannot even… register an FIR, the police cannot make an arrest.”
The CJI was in no mood to take in excuses or listen to whataboutery on his time. The court has taken this case up in right earnest and asked the state to respond and to explain what it intends to do about the horrific incidents.
More important was the complicity of the police in the acts. The court placed the question to Mehta. “The… statements of the two women indicate that they were handed over to the mob by the police. Have any of those policemen been interrogated? Have any arrests been made of the police?… Did the DGP care to find out in all these months… What is he doing?… What has he done?” the court asked.
The entire investigation, feels the court, cannot be all dumped onto the CBI. The court might constitute a committee, comprising retired high court judges which will deal with several aspects of the terrible issue at hand, issues including rehabilitation after legal action.
As the situation in Manipur remains tense, critical even, and even as the government remains as insensitive as ever, the reaction of the top court of the country is one balm that is welcome.