The Supreme Court has directed a former Maharashtra police chief to oversee the investigation by the CBI and special investigation teams into atrocities in Manipur and asked the central agency to bring in at least five police officers from other states on deputation.

The apex court also set up a committee of three women retired judges from high courts to oversee all aspects of humanitarian relief and rehabilitation and cover the restoration of homesteads and places of worship.

This is perhaps the first time that the CBI is being asked to induct officers from other states for specific cases although 50 per cent of its force is requisitioned on deputation from states or Union Territories.

The directive that a former director-general of police from another state would monitor all the investigations is also uncommon.

Although the apex court did not attribute any lack of confidence in the CBI, its directives are seen as a setback to both the Centre and the BJP-run state government, which had entrusted the probe to the central agency after the Supreme Court threatened to step in.

The bench of Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said the 11 FIRs would be supervised by five police officers from other states who are either of the rank of superintendent of police or deputy superintendent of police. The 11 cases of rape and sexual assault include the parading of two women after disrobing them.

This apart, each of the 42 SITs set up by the Manipur government will function under an officer drawn from other states, notably from those states where the SP/DSP rank officers have been inducted into the CBI relating to the 11 FIRs.

“We are going to add one more layer of scrutiny for us. We have already identified the officer,” the bench said, adding that former Maharashtra DGP Dattatray Padsalgikar will monitor the overall investigation and keep apprising it of the developments.

“We are not going to supplant the CBI because you have the investigating agency, which will be looking after the investigations. We are not casting any aspersions on the CBI,” CJI Chandrachud observed while announcing the “additional layer of scrutiny”.

The all-women panel will be headed by former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal and will include Justices Shalini P. Joshi and Asha Menon, former judges of Bombay and Delhi High Courts, respectively.

Explaining the remit of the panel, the bench said: “This committee will be broad-based constituted to supervise, intervene and monitor relief, rehabilitation and restoration of homesteads, religious places of worship and all aspects of humanitarian relief.”

The bench issued the directives while dealing with a batch of PIL petitions seeking an independent probe by court-monitored SITs into the horrific violence that had engulfed the state.

During Monday’s hearing, the bench sought statistical details from the Manipur
director-general of police, Rajiv Singh, who answered various questions posed by the bench.

At the last hearing, the Supreme Court had said there was a “breakdown of constitutional and law and order machinery” in Manipur as the state police were “either incapable or unwilling to act”.