Imphal: The Supreme Court today refused to hear the plea filed by the NGO Manipur Tribal Forum, claiming it to be an issue of law and order. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves mentioned the matter and pressed for a hearing claiming 70 tribals were killed after the May 17 hearing in the court. The hon. Court refused to urgently hear the plea for the deployment of armed forces in the state to protect the Kukis and order prosecution of those attacking the tribal community.
“We hope courts are not required to pass orders that the army needs to be deployed. It’s a purely law-and-order problem”, said a bench of justices Surya Kant and MM Sundresh, turning down the request for an immediate hearing of an application.
Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Manipur government opposed the submissions. “Security agencies are already on the ground and they are doing their best”, said solicitor-general. He further added that this is the second time such an application has been made before the court and court has reused to entertain it.
The bench has questioned the basis of the calculation of death quoted by the NGO as the court believed problems might get aggravated by making false submissions. The violent clashes between the two communities started in the first week of May and have left 115 people dead.