SC appoints former Maha police chief to oversee CBI probe into ethnic violence in Manipur

The Supreme Court appointed former Maharashtra police chief Dattatray Padsalgikar to monitor the CBI inquiry into the ethnic violence in Manipur. Supreme Court on Monday ordered setting up of a committee of three former women high court judges to oversee relief and rehabilitation of victims and compensation to them.

Observing that its effort is to restore people's faith in the rule of law in the strife-torn state, the top court also decided to monitor the overall situation there. The court said the three-member panel will be submitting reports to it directly.

A bench chaired by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said the committee will be headed by former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Gita Mittal and include Justices (retd) Shalini P Joshi, a former judge of the Bombay High Court, and Asha Menon, an ex-judge of the Delhi High Court.

ognizant of reports about the border state descending deeper into chaos, with more and more people getting killed and arson and mayhem prevailing, the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, which had termed as deeply disturbing the video of women being paraded naked, said it will appoint a committee of three former high court judges to oversee relief and rehabilitation of those affected.

We will appoint a committee of three former high court judges, the bench said and announced a panel of three former women judges. It said the committee of judges will be looking at issues including relief, remedial measures, rehabilitation, compensation and also restoration of homes and places of worship.

The bench said the committee of judges will visit the relief camps and assess the conditions there. On the investigation of cases, the court said 11 FIRs will be transferred to the CBI.We are not going to supplant the CBI because you (the state government) have the investigating agency which will be looking after the investigation, the bench said.

We are going to add one more layer of scrutiny for us. We have already identified the officer, the bench said, adding former Maharashtra DGP Dattatray Padsalgikar will monitor the overall investigation and keep apprising it of the developments.