Supreme Court Directs Supply Of Chargesheets To Manipur Violence Victims, Free Legal Aid Lawyers For Family

The Supreme Court today directed that victims and their families in 20 cases arising out of Manipur Violence be given copies of the chargesheets filed in their respective cases and be provided legal aid counsel to assist them in trial proceedings now pending in Guwahati.A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi was hearing a batch of pleas on the issue of the trial of sexual violence cases that occurred during the Manipur ethnic crisis.On August 7, 2023, the Court entrusted investigation of certain cases to the CBI and constituted Special Investigation Teams in other cases where the Manipur Police is the investigating agency. It also appointed Dattatray Padsalgikar, former Director General of Police of Maharashtra, to monitor and supervise investigations by the CBI and the Manipur Police.Today, the counsel representing the families of victims told the Court that despite earlier orders requiring the CBI to apprise them, the families of the victims continued to remain unaware of the status of the investigations. She submitted that the families were in the dark about what had happened in the cases from 2023 to 2026, and in rape cases the accused were being dealt with casually.The Court held that victims or their families are entitled to copies of the chargesheets filed in their respective cases, and directed the trial court in Guwahati to supply the charge sheets to them.“As is disclosed by Mr. Padsalgikar, of 31 cases entrusted to it, CBI has already filed chargesheets in 20 cases. It seems to us that the victims/victims' families are entitled to copies of the chargesheets filed in their respective cases”, the Court stated. The Court noted that the victims or their families are not even aware of filing of the chargesheets, because they are still staying in Manipur while the judicial proceedings have been transferred to the court at Guwahati, Assam.To facilitate participation in trial proceedings, the Court directed the Manipur and Assam State Legal Services Authorities to appoint one legal aid lawyer who understands the local language or dialect for each victim or family member. It further directed that if a lawyer is appointed from Manipur, travelling and boarding expenses will be paid in addition to the fee under the legal aid rules, and the victim or one family member will also be entitled to travel to Guwahati to participate in the trial. The Court held that the Manipur State Legal Services Authority will bear the initial expenses, and ff funds are inadequate, the National Legal Services Authority has to allocate additional funds from the legal aid corpus. The expenditure will be treated as legal aid expenditure.The Court stated that the legal aid lawyer may assist the trial court through the public prosecutor or independently, depending on the situation and held that the victims or their families are free to raise all contentions before the Special Judge at Guwahati.The Court also recommended that statements of victims or their family members be recorded virtually instead of requiring them to travel to Guwahati for deposition.The Court noted that as per Padsalgikar's 12th status report dated February 18, 2026, 36 SITs were constituted in eight districts to probe serious offences and riot cases while 31 cases involving heinous crimes were transferred to the CBI. Out of these 31 cases, chargesheets have been filed in 20 cases and 5 FIRs have been cancelled. The Court noted that investigation in the remaining 6 cases is pending and is to be completed within six months and trials have been transferred out of Manipur and are now pending before courts in Guwahati, Assam.The Court asked Padsalgikar to ensure that the SITs and the CBI complete investigation within the stipulated period. If chargesheets are filed in the pending cases, the same course will apply, the Court held.Case no. – Diary No. 19206 / 2023Case Title – Dinganglung Gangmei v. Mutum Churamani MeeteiClick Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Directs Supply Of Chargesheets To Manipur Violence Victims, Free Legal Aid Lawyers For Family

Amisha Shrivastava

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