New Delhi: While underlining that its role in de-escalating the situation in Manipur is limited, the Supreme Court said that it is the responsibility of the elected government to bring the situation under control.
While hearing two separate petitions filed by Manipur Tribal Forum Delhi and the Chairman of the Hill Areas Committee of Manipur Legislative Assembly, Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on Monday, July 10, told petitioners not to use court proceedings to escalate the ongoing conflict and urged them to maintain restraint. A two-judge bench, comprising CJI Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha, made the following remarks while taking note of the status report filed by the Manipur government on the situation in the state.
“We cannot run the law and order, elected government does. We understand your feelings but there should be certain modalities of arguing before this Court,” CJI Chandrachud responded to Colin Gonsalves, who was appearing for Manipur Tribal Forum Delhi, according to Livelaw.in.
Gonsalves had alleged that Manipur violence is a case of “state-sponsored” terrorism. “This is a case of severe escalation by armed groups which are notified in UAPA [Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act]. These are being used by the state,” he had said, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in Manipur of stoking the violence, according to NDTV.
To this, the court responded, saying, “We do not want this platform to be used for further escalation of violence in the state.”
CJI Chandrachud instead asked Gonsalves, appearing for one of the petitioners, to suggest “concrete suggestions” to bring down raging violence in the state.
“Mr. Gonsalves, have a look at the status report. Come here with concrete suggestions, we will give them to the SG [solictor general], have them consider the same. Formulate them by tomorrow,” CJI Chandrachud said while listing the matter for tomorrow, Tuesday, July 11.
Meanwhile, solicitor general, Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Manipur government, said, “We, on this side, are for the public…The matter may be taken up by the petitioner with the utmost sensitivity because any misinformation may aggravate the situation in the State. Things are returning to normalcy after a lot of efforts from the central and state government.”
However, Gonsalves continued saying that the assurances made by the Union and state governments in the last hearing did not result in any reduction of violence. He also pointed out that the number of deaths has gone up from 10 in the middle of May to 110 now.
To this, the CJI said, “Your scepticism cannot lead us to take over the law and order. This is under the Centre and the State.”
The matter will be next heard on Tuesday, July 11.