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সহকারী অধ্যাপক
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৩১ জুলাই, ২০২৩ ১১:০৮ অপরাহ্ণ
সহকারী অধ্যাপক
"Protect all daughters or no
one?" Indian court's tough Manipur questions
India government on
Monday faced tough questions on Manipur, as the Supreme Court took up the
petition of two women paraded naked and sexually assaulted by a mob. What happened
in Manipur could not be justified "by saying that this and this happened
elsewhere," chief justice DY Chandrachud said, when a lawyer brought up
the recent poll violence in Bengal, NDTV reports.
The Chief Justice raised six pointed questions and sought a response within 24
hours by the Centre and Manipur.
"There is no gainsaying the fact that crimes against women are taking
place in all parts. The only answer is this. You cannot excuse what is taking
place in one part of the country, like Manipur, on the ground that similar
crimes are happening in other parts too. The question is, how do we deal with
Manipur? Mention that...Are you saying protect all daughters of India or don't
protect anyone?" the Chief Justice asked, responding to lawyer Bansuri
Swaraj, who spoke about crimes against women in Bengal, Rajasthan, and
Chhattisgarh.
"We are dealing with something which is of unprecedented nature --
violence in a situation of communal and sectarian strife."
On a request from the
lawyer for the two victims, who argued that the women should have confidence in
the investigation, the government said it had no objection if the Supreme Court
monitored the investigation in the case.
"The government doesn't have the data now to tell you how many such cases
have been registered. That shows the state of affairs," senior advocate
Kapil Sibal, representing the two women, said while requesting a Supreme
Court-monitored probe.
The court asked the Centre how many of around 6,000 FIRs filed since the
violence broke out in Manipur were for crimes against women. The Centre said it
did not have a break-up of such cases. The Supreme Court then directed the
Centre and the Manipur government to return tomorrow with information on six
points:
1. Break-up of cases
2. How many zero FIRs
3. How many transferred to the police station that has jurisdiction
4. How many arrested so far
5. Status of legal aid to the arrested accused
6. How many Section 164 statements (or statements before the
nearest magistrate) recorded so far
The Supreme Court termed the offences against women "horrendous", and
said it did not want the case to be handled by Manipur police. "Time
running out for us, there is great need to have healing touch in the
state," it said.
"This is not just one case like Nirbhaya. That is one isolated incident.
Here it's a systemic violence perpetrated," the Supreme Court added.
Police were collaborating with the culprits who perpetrated the violence, Mr
Sibal alleged earlier during arguments, adding that the women sought protection
from the police, but they took them to the crowd instead.
"Incident on May 4. Zero FIR was registered on May 18. Transferred to the
concerned police station in June. The video went viral on July 19 and only
after this court took cognisance, things progressed in the case. The survivors
should have the confidence in the investigation," he said. The Supreme
Court also pulled up the Centre, asking what they were doing for 14 days.
The top court was hearing the centre's request to transfer the case of the two
women in the horrific Manipur video to a different state, like neighbouring
Assam.
The women objected to the transfer of the case to the CBI.
"The survivors are traumatised and terrorised. We are not sure whether the
survivors will tell the truth to a CBI team. They should have the confidence to
tell the truth," Senior Advocate Indira Jaising said, asking for a
high-powered committee of women members from civil society, so these survivors
could come forward and share the truth.
"Merely entrusting to CBI or SIT would not be enough. We will have to
picture a situation where a 19-year-old woman who has lost her family is in a
relief camp. We cannot have her going to magistrate. We have to ensure that the
process of justice goes to her doorstep. We will constitute a committee of
women judges and members of civil society, who will in turn get the assistance
of members of civil societies," the court said.
Attorney-General R Venkataramani then said there were "too many
complications", both political and non-political, and proposed a CBI
probe.
Chief Justice Chandrachud observed that the video was not the only incident.
"What happened to these three women is not an isolated incident," he
said, and called for a broader mechanism to take care of violence against women
in the northeastern state.
"This is apparent from the Home Secretary's affidavit. As much as we want
to give justice to the two women, we want to put in a mechanism where justice
is available to all other women. We have to put in a mechanism to ensure
complaints are filed, FIRs are lodged," he said.
He then asked the Centre's lawyer how many FIRs had been registered on violence
against women.
The two women have filed petitions against the centre and the Manipur
government, requesting the Supreme Court's intervention and a fair and
impartial inquiry.