Manipur violence: panel submits 3 reports, calls for 'substantially' more compensation

A three-member judicial committee, comprising former female high court judges headed by retired Justice Gita Mittal, has submitted three reports to the Supreme Court suggesting to "substantially improve" the compensation to be paid to victims of violence in Manipur.

In one of its reports, the committee proposed bringing the victim compensation scheme on a par with that propounded by the National Legal Services Authority.

According to another report, several residents of Manipur have lost their documents which must be reconstructed, especially Aadhaar card since the compensation to be paid is linked to Aadhaar. In its third report, the committee has proposed to form a committee of domain experts to facilitate its work.


A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud Monday said it would pass necessary directions Friday on the three reports. In the meantime, it directed the supply of a copy of the reports to the petitioners and the central government. The bench said it would on Friday pass certain "procedural directions" including on the requisite administrative expense, funding and necessary publicity of the work done by the committee by setting up a web portal and other infrastructure requirements.

According to the current victim compensation scheme for Manipur, a victim who has already received benefits under any other compensation scheme would not be entitled to compensation from the state.

The bench observed that the scheme needed to be revisited.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had emphasised the need for a "speedy investigation" and prosecution of those who are "actually" responsible for the heinous crimes committed in Manipur.

In its detailed order, the SC had also underlined the need for bringing to book state police officials who allegedly colluded with perpetrators of crime.