CBI chargesheet notes Manipur govt. did not sanction charges of ‘enmity’
The Manipur government had not granted sanction to prosecute the accused under Section 153A for promoting enmity among different groups on the grounds of race, at the time the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) led its chargesheet in the Manipur case of gang rape and sexual assault and parading of two Kuki-Zo women by a mob of the Meitei community in the rst few days of the ethnic conict in the State.
The chargesheet also revealed that the CBI had not made any fresh arrests in the case apart from the six accused rst arrested by the Manipur Police after videos of the incident went
The State has not replied to questions about whether the sanciton has been granted.
viral on social media months after it had happened. It also added that three of the accused in the case, identied by the two victims, were still absconding.
The chargesheet, led in October 2023, ve months after the incident, said that the federal probe agency was awaiting sanction to prosecute the accused under Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code (promoting enmity between groups on grounds of race, religion, etc.) as required by provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The Manipur government has not responded to questions about whether the prosecution sanction has been granted yet.
The CBI’s chargesheet in the case, which has now become public, concluded that the accused persons conspired with a large number of unidentied people of the Meitei community to execute a series of pre-planned crimes, including violence, arson, sexual assault, and murder, which specically targetted the community.
This particular case from May 4 came to light only months later when a video of the incident, recorded by the perpetrators, went viral on social media and public outrage forced the Police to register a First Information Report (FIR). The case was then transferred to the CBI by the Supreme Court, along with other similar cases of sexual assault that occurred during the ongoing conict in Manipur.
The agency added that the law and order situation in the State, given the ethnic conict, was such that it was forced to conduct the Test Identication Parade (TIP) by showing photographs of the accused to the victims. tribal