00:00 Namaskar, welcome to another episode of Editorial.
00:05 If you remember, 10 days back I did an editorial where I said that the Supreme Court should
00:12 be taking so-moto steps in Manipur.
00:15 Supreme Court should not just talk about Manipur, Supreme Court should act on Manipur.
00:22 As of now we see some actions, as of now we still see a lot of questions but some actions
00:27 that the Supreme Court intends to take on Manipur.
00:31 Let's discuss that, let's get right into the show.
00:37 In cases like Manipur where the central government seems to be quiet, the Prime Minister himself
00:44 seems to be quiet, the state government seems to be quiet, no actions taken, no precedence
00:50 rule imposed, that is the time when we expect the Supreme Judiciary, the Supreme Judiciary
00:57 body of India to intervene.
01:01 Therefore if you remember last 10 days back I had spoken about Supreme Court taking so-moto
01:06 action on Manipur.
01:08 Like I said, the Court should act on Manipur and not just talk about it.
01:14 Now the Court seems to have taken some action, though I wouldn't say that it is absolutely
01:22 bang on and this is what Manipur needed and all that but at least something is better
01:26 than nothing is what I would say.
01:27 While the Supreme Court seems to have a lot of questions, especially on delay of FIRs,
01:34 for instance, the Supreme Court specially spoke about the incident of 4th May and the
01:39 zero FIR of 18th May and wanted to know what the police is doing about it.
01:43 Very fair.
01:44 There can't be justification what stood in the way of registering FIRs.
01:48 Why are other FIRs not registered?
01:50 Asked the Court till 21st of June to transfer zero FIR to the concerned police station.
01:56 I will just give you a small synopsis on this zero FIR.
01:59 Earlier on what used to happen is the FIRs were normally filed in the jurisdiction of
02:04 where the crime took place.
02:05 So if the crime takes place in X place and the victim is staying in Y zone, then the
02:12 victim had to travel from Y to X and give the FIR and go to the police station and give
02:18 their FIRs there.
02:20 After certain reforms, the judiciary and the executive, both of them decided that there
02:25 will be something called a zero FIR.
02:27 Zero FIR is where the victim can go to any police station, any police station, especially
02:32 victim of sexual assault, crime against women, etc., they can go to any police station and
02:38 launch their FIR.
02:39 Now it is up to the police department to ensure that that particular FIR travels from the
02:44 police station where the victim has gone and given the FIR to the police station which
02:51 has the jurisdiction of that particular FIR.
02:53 So it is the job of the police and not the job of the victim.
02:56 The police will then inform the victim that that is the jurisdiction, the FIR has been
03:00 registered there, so you can now continue to follow up from that place.
03:03 This is how it happens.
03:04 Why did we wait for the video to go viral, for errors to be made?
03:09 I mean, this is, the whole world is asking.
03:12 Just imagine if that viral, that video would not have gone viral.
03:15 That video would not have gone viral, possibly everything still would have been the way it
03:21 is.
03:22 So the fact is, even the court asked, why did you wait for a video?
03:25 Did not you know that all these things were happening?
03:28 What I want to impress upon my viewers is, you see, what happens is, when there is a
03:35 riot like situation in a state, in a city, in a province, when there is a riot like situation,
03:41 the police is on 24/7 alert.
03:45 Technically speaking, and most often than not, our police department, most of them are
03:51 well trained police departments, even when a small incident happens, they are made aware
03:56 of that, they come to know about that through various sources, through local khabris of
04:01 theirs, through local informants of theirs, through their own local police stations, through
04:06 their beat marshals, through their entire system, they come to know about it.
04:11 An incident like this, just is unaware, police is unaware, police does not know about this,
04:17 is practically next to impossible.
04:20 And I am sure a lot of police officers will agree to me when I say this.
04:24 It is practically next to impossible.
04:26 I can understand in a peace situation where everything is onkidari and something happens
04:30 and it takes time for the police to know.
04:32 Even there the police is informed, the police gets information.
04:35 But theek hai, when it is absolutely peaceful situation, if there is some delay, I can still
04:39 understand that.
04:40 But in a situation like this, where it is a riot like situation and something of this
04:45 sort happens, the police not knowing about it is just next to impossible.
04:48 So the question that did it take a video to act is a very valid question.
04:54 Believe me, it is a very, very valid question.
04:56 Out of 6000 FIRs, how many crimes against women have been registered?
05:01 That is the question the court wanted to know.
05:03 Manipur does not have facts on the number of cases.
05:07 The court says, wait, your facts, you do not have the facts on the number of cases.
05:13 Again I go back to what I said before.
05:15 You see, the fact is that end of the day, when it comes to law enforcement agencies,
05:22 police force, they normally do have checks and balances of what happens in their jurisdiction.
05:29 Every police station, every beat has checks and balances of what happens in their police
05:35 station.
05:36 There is a process how they get information.
05:40 And this information travels very rapidly right up to their top boss, right up to their
05:45 top boss, right up to their top boss of the state, that is the Director General of Police
05:49 of the state.
05:50 It travels fast.
05:51 That is the process, that is the system of what police follows.
05:55 So all this happened and the police is not aware of it and the police has not taken any
06:00 action on it.
06:01 Police have no number, the number of cases that is actually happened, the number of cases
06:05 that is registered, if the cases are not registered, then the reason is not that the police did
06:09 not want to do it.
06:10 No, the reason possibly, the reason possibly is that the police did not want to do it.
06:15 That is the reason and that could be the reason is what I am saying.
06:19 That could be the reason.
06:20 And the chances are, it is not because the police did not want to register it, the chances
06:24 are the police was asked not to register it.
06:28 The chances are there was pressure put on the police not to register those cases.
06:32 More often than not, this is what happens.
06:34 So this is what the court also, court did not say this, but this is what the court I
06:39 think meant when they said this.
06:40 Now the court is going to monitor the following probe.
06:45 This one I like because the court is going to act.
06:49 All this were questions and answers.
06:50 This is where the court is going to act.
06:52 First, merely entrusting CBI and SIT is not enough, said the court.
06:58 Must ensure justice goes to the survivors doorstep.
07:02 This is what the court said.
07:04 And therefore, the court will constitute a committee of women judges.
07:07 This committee is to get assistance from the civil society.
07:11 So the court is going to put a women judge, a committee of women judges who will directly
07:16 relate to the civil society, common people and try and get justice to the doorstep.
07:23 I like this term and I like this action.
07:27 This is what is actually required.
07:29 Much more is required, but at least this is good for a start.
07:33 Now there are some again, some remarks which the court made.
07:36 The remark that they made is dealing with unprecedented magnitude of violence against
07:42 women or communal and sectarian clashes.
07:45 Crimes are happening against women in Bengal also.
07:48 But here the case is different.
07:51 We cannot justify what happened in Manipur by saying that what is happening elsewhere.
07:56 The court said, you know, stop your water pottery.
07:58 Whenever you ask what is happening in Manipur, what is happening in Rajasthan, what is happening
08:02 in West Bengal.
08:03 We are asking you what is happening in Manipur.
08:06 The citizen needs to know.
08:07 The court needs to know.
08:08 The people needs to know.
08:09 The media needs to know.
08:10 Whenever you have spoken about Manipur, you say what happened to Calcutta.
08:15 So that's what even the court questioned.
08:16 Said that don't get into water pottery.
08:18 You talk about what is happening in your area.
08:21 How are you dealing with the unprecedented magnitude of violence against women and communal
08:25 sectarian clashes.
08:26 That you decide.
08:27 Don't tell us what is happening in West Bengal.
08:30 The court also said, tell me what is your suggestion in Manipur case.
08:34 Are you saying protect all daughters of India or don't protect them at all?
08:38 What are you saying?
08:40 This is what we also asked.
08:41 Beti bachao.
08:42 What happened to beti bachao?
08:43 Is this how you are going to do beti bachao?
08:46 This is what the court asked.
08:47 So court also said don't talk water pottery.
08:50 When you talk Manipur, you are taking to West Bengal and Rajasthan.
08:54 Stop that.
08:55 Answer what is asked.
08:56 Manipur mein kya hua?
08:57 Are you going to protect the daughters or not?
08:59 This is what the court observed.
09:01 Now let me get into six questions that the Supreme Court asked before I conclude my editorial.
09:07 The six questions that Supreme Court asked is one, give a breakup of all cases in Manipur.
09:14 Two, how many zero FIRs?
09:17 Three, how many FIRs transferred to jurisdiction police station?
09:22 Which is what I explained to you.
09:24 Four, how many people have been arrested so far?
09:27 Fifth, status of legal aid to the arrested accused?
09:32 Sixth, how many 164 cases have been recorded so far?
09:37 And the answer has been demanded in one day.
09:41 So the government is supposed to answer by today.
09:44 Now this is what the court has asked.
09:46 So yes, there has been certain action taken by the court.
09:49 Fantastic.
09:50 It's not just about talking.
09:51 Now it is about asking questions and take acting.
09:55 But what I really would like the court to do is act more, get involved more.
10:01 You have to because the only authority who can get away, who can push for answers, who
10:07 can get answers without being confronted by zero response or without being confronted
10:14 by water batteries, the only body in this country who still can get answers is the judiciary.
10:21 The judiciary should act on this particular case.
10:23 The judiciary should act on this particular instance.
10:27 And that is the only hope that people have today.
10:30 So with that, I hope this process continues and till I see you next time, that is tomorrow
10:38 at 10.
10:39 Namaskar.
10:39 ♪ ♪
10:42 you
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