Biren Singh Audio Clips Manipulated, Says NFSU Analysis; Supreme Court Allows Kuki Group To Access Report
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed that the latest forensic report prepared by the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) be shared with the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights who is seeking investigation into audio clips allegedly implicating former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh in the State's ethnic violence.
According to the second NFSU report, the audio clips examined were found to be altered, making it impossible to authenticate the recording or compare the voice with Biren Singh's admitted voice samples.
A Bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order while directing that the report should remain confidential and not be made public.
The latest report was produced before the Court in a sealed cover by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati. She informed the Bench that the NFSU had concluded that even the first-generation copy of the whistleblower's recording had been altered and, therefore, no reliable forensic verification could be carried out. In view of the repeated unsuccessful attempts to authenticate the audio, she urged the Court to dismiss the writ petition. She said that the clips were "clearly manipulated."
Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Prashant Bhushan opposed the submission, alleging "complete mala fides." He pointed out that a report prepared by Truth Labs had concluded, with over 93% certainty, that the voice in the recording belonged to Biren Singh.
Justice Kumar directed that the coloured copies of the NFSU report be supplied to the parties in a sealed cover while emphasising that the report should not enter the public domain.
"Confidentiality of the report should be maintained to the extent of not making it public or placing it in public," the Court ordered.
Bhushan informed the Court that he intended to share the report with Truth Labs for its opinion.
It may be recalled that in the last order, the Court directed the whistleblower to submit the original audio to the NFSU for authentication of the audio and comparison with Biren Singh's voice after several failed attempts at authentication due to audio alteration.
In February last year, the Court had passed an order seeking production of the report of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Guwahati, in a sealed cover. In May, a bench, after expressing dissatisfaction with the report submitted by the Central FSL, had asked for a fresh FSL report. In August, the Court directed the NFSU to resume the exercise after the CFSL's report indicated no clear findings.
Later, in January this year, the Court directed the NFSU to examine the entire 48-minute clip and compare it with the admitted voice of Singh. However, it was pointed out that even NFSU is unable to make comparisons because the audio seems to be modified. The Court had then asked Advocate Prashant Bhushan(for petitioner Kuki Organisation for Human Rights) to explore the idea of whether the whistleblower would be willing to submit the original, unmodified audio.
Bhushan had said that this might run him the risk of exposing his identity, but he will try. Pursuant to this, the Court was informed that he has submitted the audio, which is more than 2 hours and 26 minutes. It asked the State to furnish the admitted audio to be used for comparison with the audio clip concerned.
On April 30, the Court directed that the first-generation copy of the audio should be sent for forensic examination.
Case Details: KUKI ORGANIZATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TRUST Vs UNION OF INDIA|W.P.(C) No. 702/2024 Diary No. 47024 / 2024