Supreme Court Seeks Exclusive Courts for CBI, NIA Cases Linked to Manipur Violence

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court to consider setting up exclusive courts to hear cases arising from the Manipur violence that are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana, made the suggestion while hearing a batch of petitions concerning the investigation and trial of cases involving sexual violence during the Manipur crisis.

The Supreme Court had earlier transferred the trials of such cases from Manipur to Assam, placing them under the jurisdiction of the Gauhati High Court.

During Monday’s hearing, the court took note of the status reports submitted by the investigating agencies and observed that a large number of witnesses were still to be examined in CBI cases. It said dedicated courts could help speed up the trials.

According to the CBI’s status report, the agency is investigating 31 cases arising from the Manipur violence. Chargesheets have been filed in several cases, with 904 witnesses cited in total. As many as 891 witnesses are yet to be examined.

“Having regard to the total number of witnesses proposed to be examined,” the court requested the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court to examine the feasibility of allowing a CBI/NIA court to deal exclusively with Manipur-related cases, while transferring other matters to other courts.

The Supreme Court also suggested that the Gauhati High Court Chief Justice could consider establishing two separate exclusive courts—one to deal with CBI cases and another for cases investigated by the NIA.

The Registrar General of the Gauhati High Court was directed to submit a status report on the feasibility of creating such dedicated courts.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Union government, informed the court that the CBI had filed final reports in 27 of the 31 cases under its investigation, including five closure reports. Of the remaining 22 cases in which chargesheets have been filed, cognisance has been taken in 20, while the process is pending in two.

She said only one of the cases was triable by a Magistrate, while the remaining matters would be tried by Sessions Courts. Further investigation is continuing in several cases, while a number of matters are now ready for trial.

The court was also informed that the NIA has been entrusted with 30 cases related to the Manipur violence. Chargesheets have been filed in 15 cases, while investigations are continuing in the remaining 15. Charges have been framed in seven of the cases where chargesheets have been filed.

Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for some of the petitioners, pointed out that the Sessions case numbers assigned to matters in which chargesheets had been filed had not been made available.

The court directed the State Legal Services Authority to collect the Sessions trial numbers and other relevant details and place them on record. The information, it said, would help the concerned parties access case records and facilitate the progress of trials.

The Bench also considered a status report submitted by former Maharashtra Director General of Police Dattatrey Padsalgikar, who is supervising the CBI investigation in accordance with the Supreme Court’s directions.

The report referred to several incidents in Manipur during July 2026, including road blockades, attacks on CRPF and Assam Rifles personnel, damage to public infrastructure and protests related to the NRC. The court noted that authorities had succeeded in arresting several alleged anti-social elements.

The Supreme Court stressed that the sensitive law-and-order situation in Manipur should not obstruct investigations into the violence-related cases.

It directed the SIT, CBI and NIA to continue their investigations irrespective of the prevailing security situation and asked the Manipur government and central security agencies to provide full cooperation so that the pending investigations could be brought to their logical conclusion.

The investigating agencies and other concerned authorities were also directed to submit fresh status reports before the next hearing.

The Supreme Court had earlier expressed concern over delays in the investigation and trial of cases arising from the Manipur violence and had considered the possibility of establishing special courts for conducting day-to-day hearings.