New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Monday said it will set up a three-judge committee headed by former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal to look into “humanitarian” issues like relief, and rehabilitation in violence-hit Manipur.
Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. A bench of Justices Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra said the attempt to set up such a committee was to restore the spirit of the rule of law in the northeastern state.
Retired Bombay High Court judge Justice Shalini Joshi and former Delhi High Court judge Justice Asha Menon will also be part of the three-woman committee.
The top court said it was not constituting any SIT in the matter, but would appoint former IPS officer Dattatreya Padsalgikar, who would report to it, to supervise the probe.
With regard to FIRs transferred by the state government to the CBI, the apex court said that five officers not below the rank of deputy SP would be brought on deputation to the central agency to oversee the investigation of sexual violence cases. It clarified that these officers, who are nominated by the Director General of Police of various states, would be bound to function within the administrative structure of the CBI.
With regard to other FIRs registered in Manipur, 42 SITs will be constituted by the state government at the district level, headed by an officer, not below the rank of SP. The Supreme Court said that these SITs would be monitored by seven DIG rank officers from other states. The Supreme Court said, “Each officer (DIG) will monitor the six SITs to see whether the investigation is going on correctly or not.”
It states that each of these 42 SITs will have at least one investigating officer from another state, not below the rank of Inspector.
During the hearing, Attorney General R Venkataramani told the top court that the state government is handling the issue very well.
He said the Manipur government would constitute SITs at the district level, which would be monitored by officers of the rank of DIG, IG, and Additional DG on a weekly basis. Apart from this, the Director General of Police will personally supervise the investigation, he said.
