Allegations against CM N Biren Will consider request for urgent hearing: CJI

NEW DELHI, Jan 28
Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday (January 28, 2025) said the Court may, in case of “extreme urgency”, consider advancing the hearing of a plea made by a Kuki organisation, repre-sented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, claiming Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh was instrumental in inciting and organising violence in the northeastern State which led to the loss of many lives.
The Chief Justice, however told Mr Bhushan, who was making an oral mentioning for an urgent hearing, to first make a written application.
Mr. Bhushan submitted that the petitioner has already complied with a direction from the apex Court in the previous hearing, on November 11 last year, to produce audio tapes and any other material to substantiate its claim.
He said the case was listed on February 7, but sought an earlier hearing.
“The petitioner is being hounded,” Mr. Bhushan submitted on behalf of the Kuki Organisation for Human Trust.
“We will examine. Please give a request [for urgent hearing] in writing… In case of an extreme urgency, we will advance [the Court hearing],” Chief Justice Khanna responded.
The petitioner has alleged the audio tapes, shared by a whistle-blower, were of telephone conversations held by the CM “establishing complicity of the highest functionary and others in ethnic violence in the State of Manipur”.
The petition has sought the Court to order a court-monitored investigation by the Special Investigation Team into leaked audio clips.
In November, both Attorney General R Venkata- ramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had ur- ged the top Court to not take up the case. Mr. Mehta had questioned why Mr Bhushan had come directly to the Supreme Court instead of the State High Court.
The Bench headed by then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud was exhorted by the top law offi- cers to exercise restraint as peace in the State had come at a huge cost. The CM had held talks with the tribal communities to restore calm.
At one point, Mr. Mehta indicated that the Court may be “sitting in an ivory tower”.
To this, Chief Justice Chandrachud had retorted that the Court had ordered to see the audio tapes and material because it was not sitting in an ivory tower and was very much alive to the constitutional rights of the people of Manipur.
Mr. Bhushan, who said he could not reveal the name of the whistle-blower whose life was in danger, was asked by the Court to produce the evidence in support of his claims in a sealed cover.
The NGO, also represented by advocate Cheryl D’Souza, alleged the “Chief Minister of Manipur was instrumental in inciting, organising and thereafter centrally orchestrating the large-scale murder, destruction and other form of violence against the Kuki-dominated areas in Manipur”.
“In 2023, violence broke out in Manipur due to the clash between the majority Meitei community and the tribal Kukis. Thereafter, in August 2024, an audio of approximately 48 minutes allegedly recorded in a close door meeting with the Chief Minister was published in various newspapers. The recorded conversation prima facie shows the complicity and the involvement of the State machinery in violence against Kuki-Zo community,” the petition has claimed. The Hindu