A tabulated statement presented to the Supreme Court by the Manipur government on Monday regarding cases registered in the state in connection with the ethnic clashes indicates that violence peaked in May this year, and the situation has somewhat stabilised since.
The note, which was submitted in response to the court’s direction to segregate the 6,523 cases from May 3 to July 30 as per the nature of offence, said 2,167 FIRs were registered in May; 2,079 in June; and 2,277 in July.
It shows that 6,117 cases are regarding incidents that occurred in May; 363 relate to incidents of June; and 44 of July this year.
According to the note, 5,260 of 6,117 incidents in May were related to arson, looting and destruction of house property; 71 were of grievous hurt; 60 involved rape, murder and outraging of modesty; and 37 related to destruction of places of religious worship.
May recorded 107 deaths — followed by 27 deaths in June and 18 in July, marking a total of 152 deaths until July 30 this year.
At 435, the number of injuries was also the highest in May, followed by 145 in June and 118 in July, taking it to a total of 698.
The statement shows Manipur saw 10 offences involving sexual violence during the period. These include three cases of rape and gang-rape, one case where the victim was raped and killed, and six instances of assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty.
The note puts the number of murders at 72 and said 42 cases were registered during this period for destruction of places of religious worship. The number of FIRs over incidents of grievous hurt for the period is 100.
In many FIRs, there is an overlap of offences, with 4,454 involving arson, 4,148 also involving looting, 4,694 involving destruction of house property, and 584 involving damage to public property.
A total of 292 arrests were made during this period, the highest recorded in the valley districts of Imphal West (144) and Imphal East (89), followed by Thoubal (18). Hill districts such as Churachandpur recorded nine arrests; while two arrests each were recorded in Senapati and Chandel.
Imphal West also led in the number of preventive detention (10,739), followed by Imphal East (4,239), Thoubal (1,652), Bishnupur (968). Churachandpur saw 146 preventive detentions/bound down.
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The statement said that in cases of rape and outrage of modesty, 16 arrests had been made so far and three statements have been recorded before the magistrate under Section 164.
Fourteen arrests have been made in cases of arson, looting and damage to property, and 12 in cases of grievous hurt. No arrest has been made yet in cases of destruction of religious places of worship.
The SC, which perused the report, has proposed to appoint former Mumbai Police commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar to “overall monitor” the probe being carried out by CBI into instances of sexual violence and a three-member committee of former High Court judges headed by retired J&K HC Chief Justice Gita Mittal to look into the humanitarian aspects of the problem.