The Supreme Court on Friday proposed setting up special courts to hold day-to-day trials in criminal cases linked to the 2023 ethnic violence in Manipur, while directing investigating agencies to expedite pending probes and ensure victims receive copies of chargesheets.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, hearing a batch of petitions related to the violence, noted that many victims and their families are yet to receive copies of chargesheets filed by the CBI and the state Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The court allowed legal aid counsel representing the victims to approach the offices of the Chief Justices of the Gauhati and Manipur High Courts to obtain the chargesheets.
It directed the CBI and the SIT to provide the documents within one week.
The bench also asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, the Manipur government, the CBI and the SIT, to furnish details of cases in which investigations have been completed and chargesheets filed, as well as those where probes are still pending.
The information, the court said, would help determine the number of special courts required to ensure speedy trials.
The Supreme Court further directed the Manipur High Court to examine cases relating to 30 persons who remain missing since the outbreak of the violence.
It also asked the CBI, the state SIT and the court-appointed monitoring committee headed by former Maharashtra Director General of Police Dattatray Padsalgikar to file fresh status reports on the investigation into violence-related cases.
More than 200 people have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands displaced since ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur on May 3, 2023, following a 'Tribal Solidarity March' organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
(With inputs from PTI)