"We cannot justify what happened in Manipur by saying that this and this happened elsewhere," says CJI Chandrachud

CJI DY Chandrachud: "We have to ask this- how many such FIRs have been filed since the 3rd?"

"We need to know bifurcation of 6000 FIRs, how many zero FIRs, how many forwarded to jurisdictional magistrate, action taken, how many in judicial custody?" - CJI

The Supreme Court asked the Manipur government to come back Aug 1 at 2 pm with details of FIRs filed since May 3, arrests made, and action taken.

The Supreme Court on Monday called for evolving a broad mechanism to deal with violence against women in strife-torn Manipur and asked how many FIRs have been registered in such incidents in the state since May.

"We are dealing with something on unprecedented magnitude of violence against women in communal and sectarian violence. It cannot be gainsaid that crimes are happening against woman and in Bengal also. But here the case is different. 

We cannot justify what happened in Manipur by saying that this and this happened elsewhere," CJI Chandrachud said.

The top court had last week taken suo motu cognisance of a video that emerged online recently, in which two Manipuri women belonging to Kuki tribe were seen paraded naked and being molested.

The bench was on Monday hearing a batch of pleas filed regarding the outbreak of violence in Manipur including the plea by two women from the Kuki tribe who were paraded naked by a mob of men.

Advocate Bansuri Swaraj (daughter of Late Sushma Swaraj), appearing in an intervention application, asked the Court to take up similar incidents from West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

The Centre told the SC that it has no objection if the apex court monitors the investigation into the Manipur violence.

Two women survivors of the assault opposed the CBI probe and transfer of trial to Assam. The Centre clarified it's only for the SC to decide where the trial should occur and that the Centre hasn't chosen any state.

“The viral video case isn't the only incident of violence against women in the state. There must be a wider mechanism in place to prevent such incidents and take action,” the SC said.

Attorney General R Venkataramani to the court, “I will personally monitor the CBI probe. That's the kind of assurance I am ready to make.”

Kapil Sibal said, “We want a court-monitored SIT instead of the CBI.”

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, “The Centre has no objection if the Supreme Court monitors the CBI probe.”

Advocate Vrinda Grover appearing for 'Women in Governance India' claimed that there is targeted violence against the Kuki women. to which the SG objected.

The Supreme Court pulled up the Manipur police over time taken to register a zero FIR in the case. The court said there can't be any justification for not registering a zero FIR and asked what stopped them from registering an FIR for 14 days.

The court asked the Manipur government to come back tomorrow at 2pm with details of FIRs filed since May 3, arrests made, and action taken in the case.