Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
The Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of a video that had gone viral online yesterday in which two Manipuri women of the Kuki tribe were seen molested and paraded naked. Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud remarked that the Court was deeply disturbed by the video, and it will act if the government does not. “Simply unacceptable. Using women as an instrument in an area of communal strife. Grossest of constitutional abuse. We are deeply disturbed by the videos which have emerged. If the government does not act, we will.”
The shocking clip shows the two women being paraded naked by a mob of men and molested as they move towards a paddy field. It was reported that the incident happened on May 4 and the women were gang raped by the mob.
The three-judge Bench had the CJI, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Manoj Misra. The bench then demanded responses from the Central and State governments on the actions taken to book the perpetrators. “We are of the view that court must be apprised of the steps taken by the govt so that perpetrators are booked for such violence. What is portrayed in the media and visuals which appeared shows gross constitutional violation and infraction of human life using women as instruments of perpetrated violence is against constitutional democracy. Let Centre and State apprise court on steps taken.”
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said that “This is unacceptable and we join your lordship. The government is also seriously concerned by the incident,” and guaranteed that the government is working to book the criminals and the Court will be informed of the same.
The Supreme Court then directed that the matter be listed on July 28.
The Manipur violence is due to the disagreement of certain tribes of the demands put forth by the majority Meitei community to grant them Scheduled Tribes status. The Manipur High Court had ordered the State government to “consider inclusion of the Meetei/Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list, expeditiously, preferably within a period four weeks” in April, which caused conflicts between tribal and non-tribal communities.
Name of the case: Dinganglung Gangmei v. Mutum Churamani Meetei & Ors
Bench: Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Manoj Misra.