On July 20, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud summoned the Attorney General and Solicitor General, the two top legal representatives of the Indian government, to express the court’s “deeply disturbed” response to the video footages of two women being paraded naked and sexually assaulted in the troubled Manipur state.
The Centre and the Manipur government were given a deadline by the Chief Justice, speaking on behalf of the court, to either bring the criminals to justice or leave the matter in the hands of the courts.
The court had consistently insisted that only “humanitarian issues” would be covered by its judicial intervention in the Manipur unrest. It had presented itself as a venue to aid in re-establishing peace in the State.
The court had put its faith in the State and the Center to protect those caught up in the violence.
The court had just gathered for the day’s proceedings when the Chief Justice spoke. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Attorney General R. Venkataramani were both waiting in the front row of the courtroom.
A three-judge Bench chaired by the Chief Justice of India said to the two law officers, “We called you because the court is profoundly troubled by the visuals which have appeared in the media.”
The court said the video indicates “gross constitutional violations and infractions of human rights” after taking suo motu cognizance of it.
The court emphasized in its judgment that “using a woman as a weapon of violence in a charged atmosphere is simply unacceptable in a constitutional democracy.”
“What matters is that this is just simply unacceptable, this is the grossest of constitutional and human rights, We are expressing our deep concern, we will give the government a little time to take action or we will take action,” Chief Justice warned.
Several Opposition parties have censured the central government with the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge saying, “Humanity has died in Manipur.” “Narendra Modi ji, India will never forgive your silence”.
Nevertheless, the Bench made it clear to the Centre and the State government that it desired fast action, despite the verbal commitments.
“We direct both the Centre and the Manipur government to take immediate steps and to appease the court on what action has been taken… We are of the view that the court must be apprised of the steps taken by the government to hold the perpetrators accountable and also to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the strife in Manipur,” the Supreme Court ordered.
The court listed the suo motu case for hearing on July 28.
