The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Manipur government concerning a plea of two women from the Kuki community seeking direction for free medical treatment to those fleeing ethnic strife-torn areas of the state.
Their plea also sought for appropriate guidelines directing the police to lodge zero FIRs as the local police has shown resistance in registering FIRs so far.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra while issuing notice, ordered tagging of the plea with pending ones on Manipur violence.
The petition by the two women referred to the plight of Manipur natives, claiming they have been forced to migrate. The women alleged that like them, several others have been denied basic human rights and the right to life.
“The petitioners, like several other Kuki tribal community people, have been denied their basic human rights and rights to life and livelihood. There have been no steps taken to help the Kuki people either during or aftermath of the violence,” the petition stated.
The plea also sought for an online portal to be set up that would allow the release of central or state sanctioned family pension to victims of violence, without insisting on physical verification of documents. It suggested that a web portal be set up to allow the victims to upload their medical documents for claiming reimbursement. And suggested setting up an online portal for allowing victims to upload their complaints or FIRs for the purposes of investigation or compensation.
The petitioners further stated that they were subjected to torture witnessing their family members being killed before their eyes. They have escaped the violence in Manipur and reached the national capital with great difficulty, the plea stated.
“As citizens of India, their fundamental rights on Article 14, 19 and 21 have been repeatedly denied,” the plea mentioned.
It may be recalled that on August 7, the top court had ordered the setting up of a committee of three former women high court judges to oversee relief and rehabilitation of victims and compensation to them besides asking former Maharashtra Police chief Dattatray Padsalgikar to monitor the probe in criminal cases.
