LI Network
Published on: 31 July 2023 at 18:11 IST
The Supreme Court of India, in response to an advocate highlighting similar incidents in other states, firmly asserted that the appalling incident of sexual violence against two women in Manipur could not be justified by citing similar cases elsewhere.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, made this remark while dealing with a case involving extreme violence against women in the context of communal and sectarian violence in Manipur.
Advocate Bansuri Swaraj brought to the Court’s attention that mobs had paraded women naked in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, urging the apex court to consider these cases alongside the Manipur incident.
However, the Court stressed that they were specifically dealing with the issue of violence against women in Manipur, and that it could not be justified by comparing it to other incidents.
CJI Chandrachud stated, “We are dealing with something of unprecedented magnitude of violence against women in communal and sectarian violence. It cannot be gainsaid that crimes are happening against women in Bengal also. But here the case is different. We cannot justify what happened in Manipur by saying that this and this happened elsewhere.”
The bench was hearing a series of pleas concerning the outbreak of violence in Manipur, including a plea filed by two women from the Kuki tribe who were subjected to a harrowing experience of being paraded naked by a mob of men.
During the proceedings, Advocate Swaraj, representing an intervention application, urged the Court to address similar incidents from West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan.
Last week, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognizance of a distressing video that surfaced online, depicting two Manipuri women belonging to the Kuki tribe being paraded naked and molested.
CJI Chandrachud had expressed deep concern over the video and vowed that the Court would intervene if the government did not take appropriate action.
In response to the incident, the Union government informed the apex court on July 27 that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would investigate the case, and it requested a shift of the trial venue outside Manipur.