Indian Supreme Court to monitor investigations into Manipur sexual violence cases

NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court said on Monday it will monitor all cases of violence against women committed during three months of sectarian clashes in the northeastern state of Manipur since May. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said it will appoint a retired senior police official to oversee all complaints of sexual violence to be probed by the federal Central Bureau of Investigations.

The retired police official will report back to the Supreme Court, Chandrachud said. Last month videos of two tribal Kuki women being paraded naked by a mob of allegedly majority Meitei men had surfaced attracting international condemnation.

The women had said in their police complaints that they were later gang-raped. Since then several other cases of women being deliberately targeted in violence that has resulted in more than 180 deaths and rendered tens of thousands homeless.

The court has also created a committee of three retired female judges from different high courts to look into the humanitarian issues emerging from the violence.