The Supreme Court Thursday expressed “deep concern” over the video of two women being paraded naked in Manipur and asked the State and Central governments to apprise it of the action taken to bring the perpetrators to book.
This came a day after the video showing two women from the Kuki-Zomi community being paraded naked by a mob of men and being sexually assaulted was shared widely. The incident took place in violence-hit Manipur more than two months ago.
Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud urged the government to take action against the video showing two women stripped and paraded naked in Manipur.
Terming it “simply unacceptable”, a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud directed the Centre and the state government to take immediate steps. “We will give a little time to the government to act otherwise we will take action if nothing is happening on the ground,” the bench said. “If the government does not act, we will. It is time the government really stepped in and took action. It’s simply unacceptable in a constitutional democracy. It’s deeply disturbing,” the CJI said. “Using women as an instrument in an area of communal strife. It’s the grossest of constitutional abuse,” DY Chandrachud added. “Let the centre and the state apprise us or steps will be taken. We will take this matter on July 28,” the CJI has said.
The SC had asked Venkataramani and Mehta to be present in the court at the beginning of the proceedings.
As soon as the proceedings began, CJI Chandrachudtold them, “Why we asked you to be present is because we are deeply disturbed by the videos which have emerged yesterday about the way those two women were paraded in Manipur. We want to express our very very deep concern as a court on what’s happening”.
“I think it’s time that the government really steps in and takes action because this is simply unacceptable. Using women as an instrument in an area of communal strife for inflicting gender violence is deeply, deeply, disturbing and simply unacceptable to the court,” the Chief Justice added.
“It is the grossest of constitutional and human rights violations….We will give a little time to the government to act. Otherwise, we will take action if nothing is happening on the ground. We are conscious of the fact that the video which appeared yesterday is from May but that makes no difference…. It doesn’t have to be a video of yesterday. It’s very very deeply disturbing”.
“What action has been taken since May to bring the perpetrators to book? And second, what action has been taken to ensure that this is not repeated? Who knows it may be isolated, it may not be isolated. It may be a pattern. Across history and across the world, the use of women as an instrument to perpetrate violence in these situations happened and at least in a constitutional democracy, this is unacceptable. We will dictate a short order. We will take it up in the Manipur matter.”
The bench then went on to dictate its order.
It said, “We have taken up the proceedings in the above petition by requesting the Attorney General and the Solicitor General to be present at 10.30 am. The court is deeply disturbed by the videos which have appeared in the media since yesterday on the perpetration of sexual violence and assault on a woman in Manipur. We are of the view that the court must be apprised of the steps which have been taken by the government to hold the perpetrators accountable and also to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the strife in Manipur”.
“The visuals which have appeared in the media would indicate gross constitutional violations and infractions of human rights. Using women as an instrument in perpetrating violence in a charged atmosphere is simply unacceptable in a constitutional democracy. We direct both the Union Government and the State Government to take immediate steps and to apprise the court of what action has been taken,” it said.
SG Mehta said he shared the concern expressed by the Chief Justice, adding the government is also seriously concerned by the incident. He added that such incidents are “completely unacceptable”.
He said the Government has initiated immediate steps to bring the perpetrators to book after the video surfaced and the outcome will be placed before the court.
