The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined a plea for an urgent hearing on the unabated violence in Manipur with the hope that it would not have to pass an order for the deployment of the army to quell the unprecedented crisis.
“This is serious law and order situation. Let the administration look into the issue. We wonder whether the Supreme Court can order individual protection. Our interference will create more problems. It can aggravate the situation. We hope courts are not required to pass an order that the army has to be deployed,” a vacation bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice M.M. Sundresh said.
“You can aggravate the problem by making such submissions. The moment you say they are not doing it properly you will create more problems,” Justice Surya Kant, who headed the bench, told senior advocate Colin Gonzalves appearing for petitioner Manipur Tribal Forum Delhi (MTFD).
The bench made the observation after Gonzalves sought an urgent listing of the plea for army deployment as the petitioner submitted that they had lost faith in the Manipur police and the central government due to their alleged partisan approach to the issue.
Gonzalves submitted that more people would be killed if there was any further delay in the deployment of the army.
“They (the Centre and the Manipur government) gave assurance earlier that peace is being restored. After that assurance, 70 tribals were killed. I am only asking for army protection. Your Lordships had listed the matter on July 17. By then another 50 more tribals will be killed,” Gonzalves pleaded.
Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, opposed the plea for urgent listing and asserted that security agencies on the ground were doing their best to stem the violence and restore normalcy.
Persisting with his plea, Gonzalves requested the matter to be taken up for hearing on Wednesday.
The bench turned down the request saying: “We are not listing it for Wednesday. We will list the case for hearing on July 3.”
Accordingly, the bench passed a written order posting the matter for hearing on July 3 when the court will reopen after the six-week summer recess that began on May 22.
The court was dealing with an interlocutory application moved by the MTFD reiterating its plea for army protection to the tribals as it alleged that the state and police could no longer be trusted because the Union government and “the chief minister of thestate have embarked jointly on a communal agenda forthe ethnic cleansing of the Kukis”.
In an interlocutory application filed through advocate Satya Mitra, the forum alleged that contrary to the assurances of the solicitor-general to the Supreme Court on May 17 that the grievances of the tribals would be looked into, 81 Kukis were killed, 237 churches were destroyed, 31,410 persons were displaced. Besides, there has been massive destruction of public and private properties.
Last month, the MTFD had filed a PIL in the top court seeking directions to stem the unprecedented violence witnessed in the state since May 3 after a tribal solidarity march was organised in the hill districts of the state to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
In that petition, the forum had sought the deployment of the army to protect the lives and properties of the people.
