Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 27: The case of the horror video from Manipur — which showed two women being paraded naked by a mob — will be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation, official sources said on Thursday.
The centre is also learnt to be mulling to run the trial of the case after the CBI’s investigation outside the state. The trial would be sought to be held in a court in neighbouring Assam, they said.
The Union Home Ministry has referred the case to the CBI days after it evoked nationwide outrage and sparked a huge political face-off with the united opposition. Sources said the government also wants to run the trial outside the north-eastern state, which has been witnessing violence for the last three months. An affidavit will be filed on this.
The officials also said the Union Home Ministry was in touch with both Meitei and Kuki groups and talks are in an advanced stage to restore normalcy in Manipur. The nearly three-month-long ethnic violence in Manipur has claimed over 160 lives. A video of the May 4 incident involving the two women went viral over social media earlier this month, sparking nationwide outrage.
The Opposition seized the opportunity to corner the Modi government over the issue which has rocked the Monsoon session of Parliament since it began on July 20 with the opposition demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When the government made it clear that none was coming, the opposition took a circuitous route, pushing for a no-confidence motion against the government which has been accepted by the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Opposition leaders said they know the numbers are on government’s side, but the aim of the motion, they said, was to compel the Prime Minister to speak on Manipur in the House, which would not have happened otherwise.
Sources said yesterday that the government is likely to seek cooperation for the Manipur discussion after the no confidence motion was accepted. The Centre’s plea would be that now the PM’s presence has been secured by way of no-confidence motion, a discussion on Manipur should take place in which Union Home Minister Amit Shah would respond.
A key point in the government’s defence will be that after major violence took place in the state in 1993 and 1997, no statement was made in parliament in one case and in the other, the junior home minister had made a statement. Their stance is that in the absence of a precedent, there was no cause for the opposition to demand a statement from the Prime Minister.
The opposition contends that in view of the 140-plus deaths, injuries and displacements of thousands of people since the ethnic violence broke out in May, there was nothing more urgent that can demand the Prime Minister’s attention.
The government’s current move – calling for a CBI probe — is seen as an effort to firefight in another direction – the huge public outrage in Manipur – a BJP-ruled state — and out.
The violence in Manipur has even drawn attention abroad, with the European Parliament adopting a resolution on the human rights situation in India, with particular reference to the recent clashes in Manipur which had been decried by the centre pointing out that Manipur was an “internal matter” of India.
The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday fired back at the union minister Smriti Irani’s scathing accusation that he set “Manipur on fire.” He questioned Modi government’s handling of the three-month-long ethnic clashes in the state and pinning the strife on the ruling party’s ideology.
In a video shared on social media by the Congress, Gandhi retorted, “Why is he not speaking anything about Manipur? This is because Narendra Modi ji has nothing to do with Manipur. They know that their ideology has burnt Manipur.”
The heated exchange follows Ms Irani’s allegations in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, where she accused opposition parties, including Gandhi, of remaining silent on crimes against women in non-BJP-ruled states. Ms Irani didn’t pull any punches, charging Gandhi with igniting Manipur’s unrest.
Gandhi during a virtual Youth Congress program said, “The BJP-RSS only want power and can do anything to get power. For power, they will burn Manipur, they will burn the entire country. They don’t care about the sorrow and pain of the country.”