The Supreme Court on August 1 stopped the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from “recording the statements” of the two women victims of the Thoubal sexual violence incident in Manipur at noon, just two hours before a scheduled Supreme Court hearing in the case.
The women had made an urgent mentioning before Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud that the CBI intended to record their statement at noon on August 1.
The Chief Justice immediately told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to ask the CBI officials to pause, as the court was scheduled to hear the case at 2 p.m. on August 1.
The fact that the CBI was moving in with their investigation, starting with the taking down of the statements of the women at noon, was brought to the attention of the Chief Justice by advocate Nizam Pasha who is assisting senior advocate Kapil Sibal in representing the women in the Supreme Court.
The CBI has taken over the Thoubal case, but the women have objected to the move made by the Centre with the consent of the Manipur government.
The top court is considering appointing its own special investigation team.
“The CBI is going to record their statements of the two women at noon,” Mr. Pasha informed the court.
“Mr. Solicitor, ask them to wait,” Chief Justice told Mr. Mehta.
The Solicitor General said he would inform the CBI. He said the central agency would have been only going ahead with their duty to investigate the case.
“If we don’t do anything, Mr. Sibal will complain. If we do anything, again Mr. Sibal will complain… I will inform the CBI,” Mr. Mehta assured.
The two women who were sexually assaulted and paraded by a mob in Manipur on May 4 had approached the Supreme Court earlier this week.
A video allegedly showing the incident went viral on social media, leading the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance besides giving the Centre and the Manipur government an ultimatum to either bring the culprits to justice or make way for the court to step in.
The Manipur government had immediately arrested seven people and consented to the transfer of the case to the CBI.
In a recent affidavit, the Home Ministry said that what happened to the women in Thoubal district on May 4 was “too heinous”. It said the crime called for a kind of justice that should be “seen to be done” and have a deterrent effect throughout the nation.
The Centre has also requested the court to transfer the case to another State. It said the investigation ought to be completed at the earliest and trial conducted in a time-bound manner.
The government has urged the court to direct the conclusion of the trial within six months from the date of filing of the chargesheet.
The Ministry affidavit assured the Centre had zero tolerance for crimes against women.
It also mentioned the government’s inability to get in touch with either of the two women in person or on the telephone. The Home Ministry said the State government had already formulated “rehabilitative measures” for the women and was willing to provide them expert medical care at a place of their choice, anonymity, security, legal aid, avenues for further education and livelihood assistance, etc.
Further, the Centre had said that instructions had been given to the police to mandatorily report such incidents or cases to the Director General of Police in a step to prevent repetition of such cases.
The Ministry said informants, whistleblowers who provide information of such incidents and help nab absconding culprits would be rewarded.
On July 20, Chief Justice Chandrachud had summoned both Attorney General and Solicitor General, the two topmost law officers of the government in the country, to convey that the court was “deeply disturbed” by the visuals of a woman paraded naked and sexually assaulted in strife-ridden Manipur.
The Chief Justice, speaking for the court, had given the Centre and Manipur government an ultimatum to either bring the perpetrators to book or step aside for the judiciary to take action.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the video, the court had said the visuals indicated “gross constitutional violations and infractions of human rights”.
“Using a woman as an instrument of perpetrating violence in a charged atmosphere is simply unacceptable in a constitutional democracy,” the court had emphasised in its order.
Chief Justice Chandrachud had said it did not matter if the video was not a recent one and from May.
“What matters is that this is just simply unacceptable… This is the grossest of constitutional and human rights,” the Chief Justice had observed.
