The Supreme Court’s observation that there was “an absolute breakdown of the constitutional machinery and law and order” in Manipur is an indictment of the entire governmental machinery in the state. Manipur has seen continuous and unrelenting violence and disruption of life for three months. It has been turned into a battlefield of groups and communities without a check by the governmental authority. The court, which took up the matter on the basis of a batch of petitions, has come down heavily on the police for its “lethargic” investigation of a large number of cases of ethnic violence, sexual assault and other crimes. The court noted that investigations have been tardy and arrests “few and far between” with respect to more than 6,500 FIRs. It has summoned the state’s Director General of Police to be present before it on Monday to personally furnish an explanation.
Manipur has seen some of the most despicable acts of violence and criminality, and the viral video of two women being paraded naked and one of them raped by a mob has shocked the nation. The case was not investigated and the policemen who were accomplices in the crime were not acted against. The women have themselves expressed lack of trust in investigations by the local police or the CBI. Many other cases have also come to light. Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta did not have satisfactory answers to the court’s questions and admitted that some information that he possessed could be erroneous. In many cases, he only had vague data, and in others, no information at all. While directing the DGP to present himself in the court with full information on all the cases, the court has also proposed the constitution of a committee of former High Court chief justices to probe the situation.
It was the failure of the executive to resolve the problems, protect the lives, dignity and property of the people and ensure peace that has forced the court to actively pursue the situation in the state. The court’s observations have implications that go beyond an admonition of the police force. The breakdown of the constitutional machinery in the state is not just a failure of the law-and-order system. The police is controlled by the government, and the responsibility for its lapses and failures extend to the government, too. This should also be seen in the context of evidence pointing to the partisanship of the state government and Chief Minister N Biren Singh in handling the situation. The court’s concern and the steps it has proposed are also an answer to attempts by the government to portray the situation in Manipur as not being extraordinary.