On Monday, the Supreme Court announced the setting up of a committee of three former women high court judges to supervise the relief and rehabilitation of people affected by the Manipur violence, news agency PTI reported.
Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud headed the bench, which said former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal will lead the committee, and the committee will also include Justices (retd) Shalini P Joshi and Asha Menon.
The bench, also included Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the effort of the apex court is to restore a sense of confidence and faith in the rule of law in the state, reported PTI.
It said besides the judicial panel that will oversee relief and rehabilitation efforts, among other things, senior police officers will be asked to supervise the investigation of criminal cases to be probed by the state SITs.
The bench said a detailed order will be uploaded on the apex court website later in the evening.
Manipur DGP Rajiv Singh appeared before the bench during the hearing to answer questions on the ethnic violence and the steps taken by the administration so far to check it, along with the segregation of cases for an effective investigation of the matter.
Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre and the state government, submitted a report, which the apex court had sought on August 1, on issues including the segregation of cases.
"The government is handling the situation at a very mature level," the attorney general told the bench, according to the PTI report.
The government law officers said the state government proposed to set up Special Investigation Teams (SITs) headed by the superintendent of police at the district level to probe sensitive cases. The CBI has been asked to investigate 11 cases.
On August 1, the top court said there was a complete breakdown of law and order and constitutional machinery in Manipur. Bench rapped the state police for a "tardy" and "lethargic" probe of incidents of ethnic violence, especially those targeting women, and summoned the DGP to answer its queries on August 7.
The Centre had urged the bench that instead of the two FIRs related to a video showing women being paraded naked by a mob, 11 out of 6,523 FIRs linked to violence against women and children may be transferred to the CBI and tried out of Manipur.
The bench is hearing around ten petitions related to the spiralling violence, including those seeking court-monitored probes into cases, besides measures for relief and rehabilitation in the state.
Previously on August 1, the Supreme Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is investigating Manipur’s viral video case, to not proceed with recording the victims' statements in the incident.
Ethnic clashes started in Manipur on May 3 between the majority Meitei community, concentrated in the Imphal valley, and the Kukis, occupying the hills. Till now, more than 150 people have lost their lives in the violence.
(With PTI inputs)