“Loss Of Important Documents By Manipur Violence Victims Must Be Looked Into” Says SC

The Supreme Court decided on Monday to take up the plight of the Manipur ethnic conflict victims who lost their identity documents and urgently require adequate compensation to rebuild their lives as it deliberated on issuing the necessary instructions regarding the reports from a powerful committee made up of three retired women high court judges.

A team that was established by the court on August 7 and that toured the conflict-torn state and reported back on the effectiveness of rescue, relief, and rehabilitation initiatives filed three reports, which were reviewed by a bench presided over by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud. The panel submitted two of these findings on August 17 and the final one was sent on August 19.

During the hearing on Monday, the bench, which also included justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, opened the secret reports presented by the committee and noted the issues highlighted there.

Loss of identity

The CJI emphasized that one of the three reports presented by the committee, which is made up of justices Gita Mittal, a former chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir high court, Shalini P Joshi, a former judge on the Bombay high court, and Asha Menon, a former judge on the Delhi high court, highlighted the loss of identity documents by numerous people who were affected by the violence. According to the court decision, “This report calls for assistance in reconstruction of important documents, such as Aadhaar cards etc. for such citizens.”

The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) plan was to be taken into consideration as the Manipur victim compensation program was to be modified and improved, the bench stated in response to another report. “For instance, the Manipur victim compensation scheme states that if benefits under other schemes have been received by a victim, no benefit shall be provided to such a person under the Manipur scheme,” the bench observed.

In its third report, the panel recommended that subject matter experts be hired to simplify the case’s administrative parts. The bench noted that the committee had divided the cases into categories such as compensation, violence against women, health care, mental health, relief camps, data reporting, and monitoring. The bench stated that the reports would be shared with all of the attorneys involved in the case so they could help the court on August 25 when the matter will be up for discussion to issue the necessary orders.

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The Manipur administration presented a status report to the court on August 1 stating that the state has experienced more than 5,100 acts of arson, including the use of explosives to burn homes. According to this estimate, there were 361 relief camps housing around 57,000 individuals as of that time.

Specific procedural guidelines

The bench added that specific procedural guidelines were needed in this case to ensure the necessary administrative support, financing to cover the committee’s financial obligations, appropriate publicity by putting up a work portal, and some other infrastructural improvements.

In that respect, suggestions may be compiled by Ms. Vrinda Grover (one of the attorneys in the conversation), with appropriate consultation with the committee, and shared with the advocate general of Manipur by Thursday morning. The court order read, “List the subject on Friday.

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Senior attorney Indira Jaising, who was also representing one of the applicants in the case, asked the court to give the committee the authority to establish its own method. She continued by saying that the committee members lacked a place to sit and that judge Mittal had asked the chief justice of the Delhi high court to assign the panel a seat.

The CJI responded by promising to see to it that the panel had a location to sit in Delhi. “I’ll speak with Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court and Justice Mittal. She can utilize the high court’s Vulnerable Deposition Witness Creation Office, which is acceptable. Justice Chandrachud said, “If not, the Ministry of Home Affairs can make the necessary provisions.
The Supreme Court resolved to oversee inquiries into all incidents of violence during the ethnic conflicts in Manipur by its ruling on August 7. It also ordered the formation of the powerful committee.