- 6,500 FIRs Filed Over Manipur Violence Cases.
- A huge number of separate FIRs have been filed by different individuals living under one roof for the same case when one FIR should have been filed under multiple sections.
- The biggest chunk of police cases has been filed under the category “arson, looting, and destruction of house property.”
- Manipur Police data shows the huge scale of destruction of property when the ethnic violence was at its worst.
- Manipur has been slowly returning to normalcy, though reports of sporadic violence have been coming every day.
- More than 170 have died in the violence that started during a protest by the Kuki tribe over the Meiteis’ demand for inclusion under the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.
A total of 6,523 first information reports (FIRs) – a majority of them ‘zero FIRs’ – have been filed in Manipur between the nearly three-month period from May 3 to July 30, according to the police report titled ‘Disaggregation of 6,523 FIRs’ that gives a break-up of the cases under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A huge number of separate FIRs have been filed by different individuals living under one roof for the same case when one FIR should have been filed under multiple sections of the relevant law to apply the correct charges, police sources said.
As a result of the massive number of zero FIRs filed across Manipur amid the violence in May, June, and July, the total number of police cases inflated by zero FIRs with multiple duplications reached over 14,000, according to police data which was part of the material given to the Supreme Court on Monday.
Manipur police chief Rajiv Singh was present at the Supreme Court to answer queries on the ethnic violence and steps taken by the administration to bring peace and ensure law and order.
Multiple zero FIRs over the same case by different people living under one roof can complicate compensation claims, a Supreme Court lawyer told a news agency, requesting anonymity.
In the police report, the 6,523 FIRs have been distributed under four subheadings – “murder and/or rape and outraging of modesty; arson, looting and destruction of a house property; destruction of places of worship, and grievous hurt”. One rape and murder case, three rape/gang-rape cases, 72 murder cases, and four “outraging modesty” cases have been filed, the police report shows.
The biggest chunk of police cases has been filed under the category “arson, looting, and destruction of house property.” These cases in thousands, inflated by multiple zero FIRs over the same cases, are arson (4,454), looting (4,148), destruction of house property (4,694), and damage to public property (584). This data indicates the huge scale of destruction of property in Manipur when the ethnic violence was at its worst. Forty-six FIRs, too, have been filed over the “destruction of places of religious worship”.
Manipur has been slowly returning to normalcy, though reports of sporadic violence have been coming every day. Over 40,000 central forces have been deployed in the northeast state. More than 170 have died in the violence that started during a protest on May 3 by the hill-majority Kuki tribe over the valley-majority Meiteis’ demand for inclusion under the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category. Days after the ethnic clashes erupted, the Kukis moved to assert their long-term goal – the demand for a separate administration in Manipur.
(With inputs from agencies)
