The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside an order of the Manipur High Court directing the CBI to locate and produce a rape convict on the run.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and N Kotiswar Singh relieved the agency of the task saying the order passed by the high court was unnecessary.

"We find that request made by the CBI is genuine, particularly when the state has constituted a special team in order to trace the convict. Therefore, we find that directions issued by high court to CBI was unnecessary. Therefore, the directions are set aside. However, it is necessary to observe that state will make all endeavours to trace the convict," the bench said.

If in that regard, a request was made by the Manipur government to the Home Ministry, the Centre may ensure all assistance as required, the bench added.

Challenging the October 4, 2023 order of the high court, the CBI contended before the top court that the Manipur police was already looking into the matter and any interference would be duplication of efforts.

The CBI submitted before the high court that the direction would be difficult to be comply with, but said its submission wasn't accepted.

On January 10, the high court reiterated its direction to the CBI to locate the absconding convict within eight weeks.

Special judge POCSO Imphal West Maibam Manojkumar convicted Timothy L Changsang, administrator of North Eastern Children Home, Rengkai village Churachandpur, under Sections 6 and 10 of POCSO Act and under Section 506 of the IPC on April 30, 2019, and issued a non-bailable warrant to arrest him.

Timothy was charged with raping 14 minor girls for over two years since 2012, at a children home he ran. The incident came to light in February, 2015, after a minor girl inmate, lodged a complaint with the police.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.