A note presented by the Manipur Government in the Supreme Court on August 7 shows that only one case of rape and murder was registered in the State during ethnic violence from May 3 to July 31.
The note presented by the State said a “disaggregation” of 6,523 First Information Reports (FIR) shows that one case of rape and murder (the victim was allegedly raped and murdered), three cases of rape/gang-rape, six cases of assault on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty, and 72 cases of murder had been registered as on July 31.
Compared to this, the cases registered for arson, looting, and destruction of house property mostly numbered in four figures.
The State Police registered 4,454 cases of arson (mischief by fire or explosive substance); 4,148 cases of looting (theft in dwelling house, robbery, dacoity); 4,694 cases of destruction of house property, and 584 cases of damage to public property.
There are, besides this, 46 cases registered for the crime of “destruction of places of religious worship”.
The note, shared with the petitioners, said 100 cases were registered for causing “grievous hurt”.
The note has divided the occurrence of the crimes month-wise in May, June and July.
The note said the month of May saw the highest number of deaths reported at 107. Twenty-seven people died in the violence in June, and 18 died in July. It said a total of 698 people were reported “injured” in the three months of violence in the State.
The note said the total number of FIRs registered originally as regular FIRs in the police station of original jurisdiction were 4,766. The number of FIRs registered originally as zero FIRs was 11,414. The total number of such zero FIRs transferred to the police station of respective jurisdiction was 10,382. The figures relate to the period between May 3 and July 31.
The State’s note said some incidents had multiple zero FIRs. Such FIRs are being clubbed into a single FIR. It said this process was going on. It said, taking all this into account, the total FIRs as on July 31 was 6,523.
During the hearing, the petitioners raised the issue of “looting” of arms and ammunition. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan asked the court to ask the State government about what had been done to protect the “existing arms in the armoury”.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the State, said the looting of firepower was “being investigated”. “Let us not aggravate it,” Mr. Mehta urged.
Advocate Nizam Pasha, for a petitioner, asked the apex court to appoint Special Public Prosecutors from outside Manipur to try the cases, and video facility in morgues for relatives to identify unclaimed bodies.
