The Supreme Court remarked that the sexual assault of two women in Manipur could not be justified by pointing to similar incidents in other states.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra remarked in response to advocate Bansuri Swaraj’s assertion that mobs had paraded naked women in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh and that the apex court should also investigate these incidents in addition to the one in Manipur.
In the context of communal and sectarian violence in Manipur, the Court emphasized that it addressed extreme violence against women.
It acknowledged that crimes against women occur in West Bengal and other states. However, it emphasized that the situation in Manipur is unique and cannot be explained by comparing it to different occurrences.
“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 bench was hearing several petitions concerning the outbreak of violence in Manipur, including the petition of two Kuki women who had been paraded nude by a mob of men.
In an intervention application, Advocate Swaraj urged the Court to investigate similar incidents in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan.
Last week, the apex court took suo moto cognizance of a recently published online video depicting two Manipuri women from the Kuki tribe being paraded nude and raped.
CJI DY Chandrachud stated that the Court was highly disturbed by the situation and would take action if the government did not.
The Union government notified the Supreme Court on July 27 that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would investigate the case and requested that the trial be moved outside Manipur.