The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Manipur government to ensure the cremation or burial of the unclaimed bodies of 88 people killed in the violence in the state.

The court said if there were no claimants, the bodies would have to be disposed of with due observance of religious rites by the authorities after obtaining their DNA samples.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud cautioned some civil society organisations (CSOs) working in the state to desist from precipitating the crisis, saying: “The whole idea seems to keep the pot boiling on dead bodies.”

The bench, which included Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, passed the directions after examining the report submitted by the apex court committee headed by Justice Gita Mittal, former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, which had complained that some CSOs were obstructing the burial of the bodies.

The panel had been appointed by the court to oversee the relief and rehabilitation measures for the affected persons and families following a batch of PILs filed seeking appropriate directions to the authorities in the wake of the ethnic violence in Manipur.