Manipur looking at Supreme Court judges’ visit with hope and distrust

Supreme Court Justices Bhushan R. Gavai, Surya Kant, Vikram Nath, M.M. Sundresh, K.V. Viswanathan, and N. Kotiswar Singh are expected to visit Manipur today, 22 March to attend events marking the 12th anniversary of Manipur High Court. Justice Gavai serves as executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), while Justice Kotiswar Singh is himself from Manipur.

As part of the visit, Justice Gavai will virtually inaugurate legal services camps and medical camps across all districts of Manipur. He will also inaugurate new legal aid clinics in Imphal East, Imphal West and Ukhrul districts.

The team of judges is also expected to visit one or two refugee camps and distribute essential relief materials to internally displaced persons (IDPs). Nearly two years after ethnic clashes broke out on 3 May 2023, NALSA reports that several thousand people of the over 50,000 displaced persons continue to live in refugee camps. 

In a press statement, NALSA stated that the legal services camps would help IDPs access government welfare programmes and ensure that they receive benefits related to healthcare, pension, and employment schemes, and that identity documents destroyed or lost in the violence are restored and reconstructed.

The judges will also assess the living standards of IDPs and discuss ways to improve legal and humanitarian assistance in the state. They are expected to engage with the displaced persons, evaluate ongoing relief operations, and oversee projects aimed at expanding legal aid and healthcare services.

The ’special’ visit has generated considerable excitement as people across the divide want to confide in the judges and share their traumatic experience and what they need to rebuild their lives.

However, the level of distrust is high and both ethnic groups — Meiteis and Kuki-Zo tribes — want to meet the judges separately and exclusively, without members of the other community and officials present.

A minor controversy was caused by the resolution of the bar association in Churachandpur, which demanded that Justice Kotiswar Singh, a Meitei, should not travel to Churachandpur.

Tribal groups also distrust the governor and claim that the situation has not improved even after the imposition of President’s Rule in the state once the BJP failed to elect a leader to replace outgoing chief minister N. Biren Singh. The assembly has been kept in suspended animation and Meitei militant groups Arambai Tenggol and Meitei Leepun have had free access to the Raj Bhavan, they complain.

While welcoming the visit by the judges, the Delhi-based Manipur Tribal Forum, in a letter addressed to the CJI and Justice Gavai, among others, pointed out that previous visits were ‘planned and monitored’ by state government authorities who did not allow the real picture to emerge.  The forum urged the judges to independently assess the situation and keep the tribals’ perspective in mind.

The letter alleged that none of the 197 villages and over 7,000 homes destroyed during the conflict have been rebuilt, despite a Supreme Court directive issued on 11 July 2023. The MTFD also called for the enforcement of the court’s earlier order to reconstruct and restore the affected villages. It also requested details on FIRs, chargesheets, arrests, and the status of trials from the Supreme Court-appointed committee led by former DGP D.D. Padsalgikar.