Three Years Later, The Mess In Manipur Is Far From Getting Over

When confronted with problems that are beyond any solution, it is a long-enduring national pastime to create another bureaucracy and present it as a solution. There is an abiding hope that such bureaucracies will help us see some light at the end of the tunnel. It is also well known and nationally accepted that such bureaucracies sit atop a pile of other clogged bureaucracies and, with the passage of time, become part of the architecture of inefficiency. Into this category falls the Supreme Court proposal to set up special courts to deal with Manipur violence cases. The history of special courts and fast-track courts, set up over the years, is the same as that of any other bureaucracy.

The investigation into the hundreds of cases of violence is also a story of judicial and police lethargy, sitting atop many offices. The CBI, the SIT (special investigation team) and the state police are the three agencies probing ethnic violence in Manipur, involving the Meiteis and the Kukis and also some Naga groups, which shocked the nation three years ago. The SIT is investigating 3020 cases across 8 districts, while the CBI is probing 31 rape and murder cases. As part of the sealed-cover jurisprudence, two reports have been submitted by these agencies. The SIT has completed investigations in only 301 cases, out of which trials have commenced in 11. The CBI investigations are no better, having completed 21 cases, while investigation is continuing in 11. Six closure reports have also been filed. Above all this is the complaint that many burnt churches have not been reconstructed. Atop this judicial and investigative mess sits a committee headed by retired high court judge Gita Mittal. The term of this committee has now been extended till the end of this year.

Clearly, there is no end in sight for any of these cases. It must be admitted that investigation into specific instances, which happened as part of a larger conflict, is difficult and mostly impossible. To that extent, we cannot blame any of the agencies for the lethargic progress. Nor can it be envisaged that any of the trials will be concluded any time soon. Special courts can, at best, help speed up the snail’s pace to a tortoise’s pace. All these cases can be dragged through courts endlessly in special courts or ordinary courts.

Manipur finds itself between the devil and the deep sea. Far away from the national durbar, it hardly catches the attention of the government and the ruling BJP, which, apart from changing the chief minister, has hardly done anything or offered a solution. There is neither political will nor strategic plan for healing the wounds of Manipur, which is left to deal with its festering wounds.