The Supreme Court on Monday requested the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court to consider setting up exclusive courts to deal with cases arising out of the Manipur violence that are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana made the request while hearing a batch of petitions concerning the investigation and trial of sexual violence cases that occurred during the Manipur crisis. The Supreme Court had earlier transferred the trials from Manipur to Assam under the jurisdiction of the Gauhati High Court.

Today, considering the status reports filed, the Supreme Court noted that a large number of witnesses were yet to be examined in the CBI cases and said that dedicated courts could facilitate expeditious trials.

The CBI's status report showed that chargesheets had been filed in several cases, with a total of 904 witnesses cited. Of these, 891 witnesses were yet to be examined.

“Having regard to the total number of witnesses proposed to be examined, we request the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court to consider the feasibility of allowing the CBI/NIA court to exclusively deal with Manipur-related cases. Other cases be transferred to some other court,” the Court said.

The Chief Justice may also consider constituting two separate exclusive courts, one for CBI cases and another for NIA cases, the Court added.

The Court directed the Registrar General of the Gauhati High Court to file a status report regarding the feasibility of the proposal.

During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Union, informed the Court that the CBI was investigating 31 cases arising out of the Manipur violence. Final reports had been filed in 27 cases, including five closure reports. Of the remaining 22 cases in which chargesheets had been filed, cognisance had been taken in 20, while it was pending in two cases.

The ASG submitted that only one of the cases was triable by a Magistrate, while the remaining cases were triable by Sessions Courts. Further investigation was continuing in several matters, she said, adding that a number of cases were now ripe for trial.

With respect to the NIA, the Court was informed that 30 cases had been entrusted to the agency. Chargesheets had been filed in 15 cases, while investigation was continuing in the remaining 15. Charges had been framed in seven of the cases in which chargesheets had been filed.

Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for some of the petitioners, pointed out that the particulars of the Sessions case numbers allocated to cases in which chargesheets had been filed had not been made available.

Accepting the suggestion, the Court directed the State Legal Services Authority to collect the particulars of the Sessions trial numbers and other relevant details and place them on record. The Court observed that this would enable the concerned parties to access the records and facilitate the trial.

The Court also took note of a status report filed by Dattatrey Padsalgikar, former Maharashtra DGP who is supervising the CBI investigation as per the Court's order. The report referred to several incidents in July 2026, including road blockades by certain community groups, attacks on CRPF personnel, attacks on Assam Rifles personnel, damage to public infrastructure and protests concerning the NRC. The authorities had, however, been successful in arresting anti-social elements, the Court noted.

Emphasising that the sensitive law and order situation should not impede the investigation, the Court directed that the SIT, CBI and NIA must continue their ongoing probes.

“Irrespective of the sensitive law and order situation, the SIT, CBI and NIA shall continue with their ongoing investigation,” the Court directed, adding that the State of Manipur and central security agencies must ensure full cooperation to take the pending investigations to their logical conclusion.

The Court directed the investigating agencies and other concerned authorities to file fresh status reports before the next date of hearing.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had expressed concern over delays in investigation and trial of cases arising out of the Manipur violence and had proposed the constitution of special courts to conduct day-to-day trials.

Case : CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION v. ARUN KHUNDONGBAM @NANAO | SLP(Crl) No. 5756/2026 and connected cases