The Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and the State after the parents of a youth who was killed in a road rage case in 2011 by the son of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh sought justice and claimed that they feared for their life.
The family petitioned to the apex court that situation in the State was such that no lawyer was willing to take up their case and anybody who dared to appear on their behalf was threatened with dire consequences. It has even demanded an independent probe by a Central agency.
Taking note of the family’s plight, a Vacation Bench of Justices l Nageswara Rao and Navin Sinha issued notices to the Union Home Secretary and Chief Secretary of Manipur to respond to the petition by May 29, the next date of hearing.
The petition was filed by Irom Chitra Devi, the mother of one Irom Roger, who was killed in a road rage incident on March 20, 2011. The man who shot was Ajay Meetai, the son of the present Chief Minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh. Roger’s fault was that he did not allow Meetai’s SUV to overtake his car. An enraged Meetai, shot at Roger resulting in his death.
The trial court in 2011 itself had found Meetai guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder (IPC Section 304) and sentenced him to five years in prison. Advocate Kamini Jaiswal who argued for the aggrieved mother informed the apex court that the parents have repeatedly been threatened and feared for their life. Interestingly, six years have passed since the trial court judgment and the accused has yet not served the full term of punishment, indicating that for majority period he has remained out of jail.
Although the petition even named the Chief Minister as one of the respondents, the bench decided not to issue notice to him for the present. However, the Bench felt the need for securing the safety of the victim’s family. Jaiswal submitted that no lawyer was willing to appear for the parents before the Manipur High Court where Meetai has filed an appeal challenging the punishment awarded by the trial court.
Advocate Utsav Bains, who filed the petition for the parents before the Supreme Court, once went to appear for the family before the Manipur High Court where he received threats. The petition said, “In January, the petitioners (parents) approached several lawyers in the High Court of Manipur at Imphal to file an appeal against the judgment of the Sessions Judge, Imphal (West). All the lawyers they approached, refused to represent them due to the influence and clout of the Respondent No 3 (Chief Minister), more so, in view of the fact that nobody could dare to stand-up against the Chief Minister, Home Minister of the State,” the petition said.