Manipur violence: Supreme Court allows CBI to record 2 women's statements after govt's offer for other cases

The central government on Tuesday offered to hand over all FIRs related to crimes against women in Manipur to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Advocate General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Center and the Manipur government, offered to hand over such cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation after the Supreme Court came down hard on the state police over the law and order situation in strife-torn Manipur and their alleged inaction in cases of violence.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said the police's inaction in registering FIRs, making arrests and recording statements gave the court the impression that "there was no law from the beginning of May to the end of July".

“There was an absolute failure of the machinery that you could not even register an FIR. Doesn't this point to the fact that there has been a complete breakdown of law and order and the state machinery? asked the CJI. The bench asked the Manipur Director General of Police to provide details of all FIRs registered, the nature of the crimes involved and the arrests made.

The court also allowed the CBI to record the statements of the victims in the viral video case in which two women were stripped and paraded by a mob and sexually assaulted.

Earlier in the day, the apex court directed the CBI not to continue recording the statements of the women victims during the day as a number of petitions on the issue were scheduled to be heard at 2 pm. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Center and the Manipur government, said on the bench that the state police had lodged a "zero" FIR in case the two women were performing nude.

Mehta told the high court that the Manipur police have arrested seven people, including a juvenile, in the video case. The next meeting will be on August 7.