In a significant mobilization, the CBI on Wednesday assigned 53 officers, including 29 women, from various units across the nation to investigate assault cases in Manipur, according to officials. According to them, the team, which consists of three DIGs (Lovely Katiyar, Nirmala Devi, and Mohit Gupta), as well as Superintendent of Police Rajveer, will be under the direction of Joint Director Ghanshyam Upadhyay who will also oversee the investigation as a whole. This mobilization is the first of its type to simultaneously call in such a significant number of female officers, said officials.
According to sources, several of these instances under investigation by the CBI may fall under the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which can be investigated by an officer with the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police.
The 53-member team also includes two additional superintendents of police and six deputy superintendents of police, all of whom are female, they claimed. The agency has dispatched three DIGs and one SP to oversee and monitor the investigations as the Deputy Superintendents of Police cannot act as supervisory officers under such circumstances, they stated.
The group would also consist of 10 sub-inspectors in addition to the 16 inspectors, they said. According to officials, the CBI typically leans on the state in question to provide manpower when the agency is given such a high number of cases. To avoid any claims of prejudice in the investigation, the officials said they would work to minimize the role of local officers in the case of Manipur.
Eight cases have already been reported to the agency, including the two involving the mob’s stripping and displaying of women on May 4, which generated a huge disturbance when a video of it surfaced on social media on July 16. According to reports, the CBI will look into nine more incidents of violence in Manipur, bringing the total number of cases it has looked into to 17. The investigation by the central agency would not be restricted to only 17 cases, according to officials aware of recent developments. It may also be referred to on a priority basis for any other cases involving sexual assault or crimes against women, they stated.
They claim that the investigation team would probably take on another instance of suspected sexual assault in the state’s Churachandpur district. The CBI is facing the difficult challenge of fighting off allegations of bias during the Manipur operation in light of the fact that society divided along ethnic lines, according to the officials. Any engagement of personnel from one community is likely to lead to finger-pointing, they added.
Since May 3, when a “Tribal Solidarity March” was organized in the hill areas to protest against the dominant Meitei community’s quest for Scheduled Tribe status, more than 160 people have been murdered and hundreds have been injured as a result of ethnic conflict in the state.
The tribal population of Manipur, which includes the Naga and Kuki people, makes about 40% of the total population and is primarily concentrated in the hill regions, whereas Meiteis make up around 53% of the population and reside primarily in the Imphal Valley.
