Manipur violence:SC extends tenure of Justice Gita Mittal committee by 6 months

New Delhi, Aug 5 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday extended by six months the tenure of the Justice Gita Mittal committee set up to oversee relief and rehabilitation of the victims of ethnic violence in Manipur.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra extended the term of the panel after it was informed that its tenure ended on July 15.

“The committee chaired by Justice Gita Mittal stands extended by six months,” the bench said.

On August 7 last year, the bench had ordered setting up of the committee of three former women high court judges to oversee relief and rehabilitation of the victims and compensation to them besides asking former Maharashtra police chief Dattatray Padsalgikar to monitor the probe in criminal cases.

The committee was authorised to submit its reports directly to the top court which is monitoring the cases related to ethnic strife.

The panel, headed by former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Mittal, includes Justices (retd) Shalini P Joshi, a former judge of the Bombay High Court, and Asha Menon, an ex-judge of the Delhi High Court.

The three-member panel was constituted days after the apex court had termed as “deeply disturbing” the video of women being paraded naked in the state.

More than 200 people have been killed, several hundred injured and thousands displaced since ethnic violence first broke out in the state on May 3, 2023 when a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status.