Manipur viral video: Centre says Manipur video case probe transferred to CBI

The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that it has transferred to the CBI the probe into a case related to Manipur viral video where two women were paraded naked in the strifetorn northeastern state saying the government has zero tolerance towards any crimes against women reported PTIThe Ministry of Home Affairs MHA in an affidavit filed through its Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla also urged the top court to transfer the trial outside Manipur in the case for conclusion of the trial in a timebound manner Seven persons have been arrested in the case so farThe details of the sexual assault on two women came out in the open last week through the leak of a video of the incident The top court on July 20 took note of the incident and said it was deeply disturbed by the video and the use of women as instruments for perpetrating violence was simply unacceptable in a constitutional democracyA bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud had directed the Centre and the Manipur government to take immediate remedial rehabilitative and preventive steps and apprise it of the action taken Filing its response the Centre said The Government of Manipur vide letter dated 26072023 has recommended to Secretary DOPampT for entrusting the case to CBI for further investigation which has been duly recommended to Secretary DOPampT by MHA vide letter dated 27072023 The investigation shall thus be transferred to the CBIThe affidavit said the central government believed that the investigation should be completed at the earliest and the trial be also conducted in a timebound manner which must take place outside ManipurThe central government therefore makes a specific request that the entire case including trial of the offence in question be ordered to be transferred by this court to any state outside the state of ManipurThe power to transfer the casetrial outside any state is only with this court and therefore the central government is making this request to this court to pass such an order with a further direction to conclude the trial within a period of six months from the date of the filing of charge sheet by the CBI it said It said the Manipur government has informed that seven main accused were arrested and remain in police custody for further examinationSeveral police teams have been formed at various locations to arrest identified culprits and an additional Superintendent of Police SPrank officer has been entrusted to investigate the case under the supervision of other senior officials it saidThe approach of the central government is of zero tolerance towards any crimes against women The central government considers the offences like the present one to be too heinous which deserve to be taken not only with the seriousness it deserves but justice should be seen to be done so that it has a deterrent effect throughout the nation with respect to crimes against women it saidThis is one of the reasons why the Centre with the consent of the state government has taken a decision to entrust the investigation to an independent investigating agency that is the CBI the affidavit saidAs remedial measures the MHA secretary said the Manipur government has formed district psychological support teams for providing mental health intervention at various relief camps To prevent repetition of such incidents reporting of all such cases to the Director General of Police DGP by the police station incharge of the jurisdiction has been made mandatory it saidOne senior police officer of the SP rank will monitor these investigations under the direct supervision of the DGP the affidavit said A suitable reward for reporting such incidents and for providing information leading to the arrest of the absconding culprits will also be given it said An allwomen team of one senior special psychiatrist one specialist psychiatry and one psychologist from the district hospital in Churachandpur was deputed to assist the victims it saidThe central government will also provide the services of experts from its medical institutions as per requirement and legal aid has also been offered to the victims through the District Legal Services Authority it said The bench will hear pleas related to the ethnic violence in Manipur on July 28Tension mounted in the hills of Manipur after a May 4 video surfaced last week that showed two women from one of the warring communities being paraded naked by a few men from the other sideThe video was doing the rounds on the eve of a planned protest march announced by the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum to highlight their plight At least 150 people have been killed and several hundred injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3 when a Tribal Solidarity March was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei communitys demand for Scheduled Tribe statusPTI