Overview
- The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that trials arising from the 2023 Manipur ethnic violence must be expedited and asked investigative agencies to file updated status reports.
- A Special Investigation Team and the CBI have filed hundreds of charge sheets against more than 400 accused but only a small fraction of cases have reached trial stage.
- The CBI told the court that 21 cases are currently under trial and, with cooperation from witnesses and others, expects to finish those trials in six to seven months.
- The court instructed Manipur and Assam to implement witness and victim protection schemes and ordered legal service authorities to provide Manipuri-speaking counsel to help victims and witnesses depose safely.
- Judicial monitors warned that fresh incidents on April 7 and 18 stretched police capacity, a factor the court cited as complicating prosecutions in a conflict that left over 260 people dead and thousands displaced.