NEW DELHI: With an array of seasoned senior advocates presenting in the Supreme Court a coordinated account of horrific crimes perpetrated against Kuki women during ethnic strife in Manipur, advocate Bansuri Swaraj made a loud noise about civil society shedding tears over women in the NE state but remaining mum about similar plight of women in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
Finding that such accusations would reflect on the image of the Supreme Court as a court of equity, the CJI said, “the only distinction is that Manipur is witnessing a ethnic strife of unprecedented nature. We cannot allow women to be used as a tool for perpetrating ethnic violence. The question before us is how we are going to deal with the Manipur incidents. What framework is to be devised to address the grievances of the women?”
Swaraj said if there are 6,000 FIRs lodged relating to violence in Manipur during the ethnic strife, there are about 9,000-odd FIRs registered in West Bengal but the “conscience of civil society is woken up only for Manipur even though similar sinister incidents happened in the other three states”.
“I request the court not to limit whatever mechanism it devises to address the grievances of sexually assaulted women only to Manipur and extend it to all states. The daughters of India need this, irrespective of the state they reside in,” she said.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Indira Jaising, Vrinda Grover and Colin Gonsalves narrated incidents similar to two Kuki women being stripped, paraded naked and sexually assaulted allegedly by Meitei mob evoking revulsive emotions from a bench headed by CJI D Y Chandrachud, which singed the Manipur government for the woeful response to such incidents from the Manipur police.
Swaraj, appearing for two intervenors narrating horrific incidents from West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, drew the court’s attention to assaulting and parading naked of a women panchayat poll candidate by assailants in Howrah. “No FIR has been registered till date,” she alleged.
Finding that such accusations would reflect on the image of the Supreme Court as a court of equity, the CJI said, “the only distinction is that Manipur is witnessing a ethnic strife of unprecedented nature. We cannot allow women to be used as a tool for perpetrating ethnic violence. The question before us is how we are going to deal with the Manipur incidents. What framework is to be devised to address the grievances of the women?”
Swaraj said if there are 6,000 FIRs lodged relating to violence in Manipur during the ethnic strife, there are about 9,000-odd FIRs registered in West Bengal but the “conscience of civil society is woken up only for Manipur even though similar sinister incidents happened in the other three states”.
“I request the court not to limit whatever mechanism it devises to address the grievances of sexually assaulted women only to Manipur and extend it to all states. The daughters of India need this, irrespective of the state they reside in,” she said.
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