Manipur violence: Supreme Court asks Chief Secretary for report on unnatural deaths at relief camps

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Manipur Chief Secretary to file a report on 25 unnatural deaths reported in relief camps set up for victims of the Manipur violence of 2023. 

A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana ordered,

"We direct the Chief Secretary of Manipur to submit report about all the 25 unnatural deaths reported in the newspapers...along with post mortem report identifying the cause and what preventive steps have been taken to avoid the same. What preventive steps have been taken in (camps for internally displaced people)."

The Court passed the order on a batch of petitions concerning the investigation, protection, relief and rehabilitation of those affected by the Manipur ethnic clashes of 2023.

The violence in Manipur stemmed from the opposition of certain tribes to the demand of Scheduled Tribes status for the majority Meitei community.

On April 19, 2023, the Manipur High Court had ordered the Manipur government to “consider inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, expeditiously, preferably within a period of four weeks” from the date of the order.

This directive sparked violent ethnic clashes within the State between the Meitei and Kuki–Zo communities. In 2024, the Manipur High Court recalled its controversial April 2023 directive.

Meanwhile, a video of two women being paraded naked amid the violence went viral, prompting the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the issue. It has, since then, issued various directions to help curb such clashes.

Today, the Court took note of a report by an IAS officer from Manipur stating that 608 deaths had occurred in relief camps, but post-mortems had been conducted in only 20 cases. The Court has questioned why post-mortem was not conducted in all unnatural death cases. 

It also sought an explanation for the payment of compensation of only ₹20,000-₹30,000 to the families of those who suffered unnatural deaths, despite a compensation of ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh being contemplated for affected families.

Meanwhile, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati told the Court that the 42 Special Investigation Teams (SITs) were set up across 8 districts to probe Manipur violence cases. Chargesheets have been filed in 302 cases and closure reports in 1,583 cases, while 1,135 cases remain under investigation. Trials have commenced in 38 cases, the ASG added. The took these figures on record.

The Court was also apprised of the status of cases being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Former Maharashtra DGP Dattatray Padsalgikar, who was appointed by the Supreme Court to supervise the CBI investigations, filed his sixteenth status report dated September 8. The said report recorded that the CBI had filed final reports in 28 cases, including 6 closure reports, of which 4 had been accepted.

The CBI cases involve 978 cited witnesses, of whom only 6 have been examined so far, the Court noted. There are currently 38 accused persons in custody in these matters, the Court was told. 

The pace of CBI trials in Manipur violence cases was also briefly discussed today. Advocate Nizamuddin Pasha submitted that the Special CBI Court at Guwahati, Assam was handling several other matters in addition to the Manipur cases, limiting the number of days that could be devoted to such cases. He also pointed to logistical difficulties in examining witnesses remotely and the need to secure the areas from which vulnerable witnesses appear.

CJI Surya Kant indicated that the Court had already communicated its concerns to the jurisdictional CBI court and expressed confidence that the High Court would ensure that the Manipur cases received adequate attention.

“Let’s see for some time…if further intervention is required, we will do that,” the CJI added. 

The Bench also observed that there may be a need to create 2 additional special NIA courts in Assam.

“Once (additional) NIA courts are created and pressure eases, we are sure that CBI courts will be able to deal with only Manipur cases,” CJI Kant added.

Notably, on August 10, the Court had urged the authorities to consider setting up 2 trial courts that could exclusively deal with Manipur violence cases that were investigated by the CBI and the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

[Live Coverage]