Manipur violence: SC asks govt to file status report on recovery of arms

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Manipur government and the law enforcement agencies to file a status report on the "recovery of arms made from all sources" so far in the ethnic-violence hit state.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, "Let a status report be furnished to this court by the government. The report shall be made available only to this court."

"Even for disarmament, we are not concerned with if there are illegal arms on one side or the other. We are dealing with this objectively. The state has to take action irrespective of the source where the illegal arms are situated", the CJI said.

It further observed, "Investigation of crime, dealing with various aspects of human suffering, recovery of arm, providing compensation, these have to take place across the board irrespective of who the person genuinely in need is".

The bench also took note of the affidavit filed by the Manipur Chief Secretary who denied any outbreak of chickenpox or measles in the relief camps. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Manipur, also said that there was no shortage of basic commodities like food and medicines for people facing economic blockade in the state and in relief camps.

The apex court also asked Manipur government to take a call on the unclaimed bodies of those killed in the violence lying in the mortuaries for the past four months saying a decision needs to be made before dead bodies become a source of disease.

"The bodies cannot be forever in the morgue as it can trigger an outbreak," the bench told the state government.

It further directed the Union home secretary to communicate with Justice (retd) Gita Mittal, the chairperson of the Supreme Court-appointed three-member committee to oversee relief and rehabilitation work in Manipur, for finalising names of the experts for helping the committee in its functioning. It directed the state government to nominate an officer with whom the committee can interact to carry out its work.

The top court is seized of the cases relating to the violence in Manipur between Meitei and Kuki communities.

The violence in Manipur between the Hindu Meiteis and the tribal Kuki, who are Christians, erupted after a rally by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) on May 3.

Violence has gripped the entire state for over three months now and the Central government had to deploy paramilitary forces to bring the situation under control.