(Eds: With additional details) New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) The Supreme Court today pulled upthe CBI's SIT, probing alleged extra-judicial killings andfake encounters by the army, Assam Rifles and police inManipur, for not registering the required number of FIRs asdirected by it earlier.
The apex court, while putting searching questions to theSpecial Investigation Team (SIT) over the issue, directed themto lodge 30 more FIRs on or before January 31 this year, afterthe team said it has lodged 12 FIRs till date.
The apex court is hearing a PIL seeking probe into asmany as 1,528 cases of extra-judicial killings in Manipur.
"FIRs have to be registered in every single case. It isthe investigation that has to be carried out by you (SIT).
After the investigation, you decide whether you will file thecharge sheets or closure reports," a bench comprising JusticesMadan B Lokur and U U Lalit said.
The top court asked the SIT to complete its investigationin the 12 matters in which FIRs have already been registered,by February 28 this year.
"We make it clear that on or before January 31, 2018, allFIRs must be registered in respect of the remaining 30 casesas mentioned in the three tables that we have mentioned in thejudgement dated July 14, 2017," the bench said.
The court had on July 14 last year constituted an SITcomprising five CBI officers and ordered registration of FIRsand probe the alleged extra-judicial killings in Manipur.
The bench, which perused the first status report filed bythe SIT, had directed that all subsequent reports to be filedbefore it, should have the approval of the CBI director.
The bench also asked the CBI director to monitor theprogress in the investigation and posted the matter forfurther hearing on March 12.
At the outset, Additional Solicitor General (ASG)Maninder Singh, appearing for the CBI, placed before the benchthe status report of SIT.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing thepetitioners, raised the question that CBI has not yet lodgedthe FIRs as directed by the court earlier and statement ofwitnesses have not been recorded so far.
The ASG referred to the contents of the status report andsaid that out of 48 such incidents, the SIT has not receivedthe documents related to six cases.
However, the bench asked the CBI's DIG, who is in-chargeof the SIT probe and was present in the court, as to why allthe FIRs were not registered yet despite ordering the team todo so by December 31 last year.
"You (SIT) do not need forensic reports to register anFIR. For registering an FIR, you do not need site visit. Thereare orders of the Gauhati High Court and the National HumanRights Commission (NHRC). You can register FIRs in respect ofthese cases and then carry out investigation," the bench said.
When the DIG said they have to examine the voluminousrecords of each case before lodging FIRs and see whether acase was made out or not, the bench shot back, "that is forthe courts to see if cases are made out or not. The GauhatiHigh Court has said about unnatural deaths. You cannot saythat judgement of high court is wrong".
Meanwhile, the ASG told the bench that SIT has receivedthe documents related to these cases in tranches.
The bench told the DIG that the apex court has asked theSIT to first investigate the cases which have already beendealt with by the high court, NHRC and a commission headed byformer Supreme Court judge Justice Santosh Hegde.
"Why did we picked up these cases? Because there are somefoundational analysis by some judicial authorities in thesematters," the court said, adding, "you were expected to carryout investigation from there onwards".
Regarding the arguments advanced by Gonsalves, the ASGsaid that process of recording statement of witnesses havealready began.
The apex court had on January 8 said it appeared that thematter relating to probe into these cases was not being takenup seriously by the SIT. PTI ABA PKS RKSARC.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.