Two women who were paraded naked in amidst the ethnic violence in Manipur have approached the Supreme Court with a plea seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the incident.
The plea also seeks direction from the apex court for transferring the probe outside of Manipur.
The plea is set to be heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud.
The plea further seeks directions to protect the identity of the two victims.
Currently, the Centre has informed the SC that CBI is investigating the incident.
The Ministry of Home Affairs transferred the Manipur video case to CBI last week. The ministry said the CBI probe into the incident, where two women were paraded naked by a mob and allegedly sexually assaulted in broad daylight on May 4, was already recommended by the Manipur government.
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The Centre also requested the SC to transfer the matter outside of Manipur and fast-track within six months of the chargesheet being filed.
Seven main accused, including the man who shot horrifying incident have been arrested.
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A 26-second video of the May 4 incident went viral on July 19. The video shows two women being stripped naked and paraded by a strong mob of 1,000. It was revealed that soon after the incident, an FIR was filed but the investigation was disrupted due to lack of evidence to identify the accused.
One of the woman in the video is the wife of an ex-Armyman, who served as a subedar in the Assam Regiment and had even fought in the Kargil War.
More than 160 people have lost their lives, and several have been injured since ethnic violence broke out in the state on May 3, when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.
(With PTI inputs)