Manipur violence: Supreme Court wonders why entire leaked clips not sent for forensic test
Audio clips allegedly implicating former Manipur CM in the 2023 ethnic violence were tampered with and not scientifically fit for voice comparison, the NFSL, Gandhinagar, had on November 3 told SC
A Bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Alok Aradhe said it was a “little disturbed” by the November 20 affidavit of the petitioners that said only select clippings were sent to Gujarat’s National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) Laboratory.
It sought to know why the entire available leaked audio clip of around 48 minutes was not sent to NFSU for examination.
Audio clips allegedly implicating the former Manipur Chief Minister in the 2023 ethnic violence were tampered with and not scientifically fit for voice comparison, the National Forensic Science Laboratory (NFSL), Gandhinagar had on November 3 told the Supreme Court.
In its report submitted to the top court, the NFSL had virtually given a clean chit to him, saying no opinion on similarity or dissimilarity of the speakers could be offered.
Singh resigned as the chief minister of Manipur on February 9, amid rumblings within the state BJP and growing demands for a change in leadership.
On behalf of the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR), which has sought an independent SIT probe into the matter, advocate Prashant Bhushan said the total audio tapes were of roughly 56 minutes and the petitioners have filed 48 minutes of recording in the court. He said the remaining part of the audio clips identified the person who made that record, and if his identity was disclosed, his life could be in danger.
“Once the entire tape was available with you, the entire tape ought to have been sent to the NFSU. Why should they send only this limited one?” the Bench asked.
As Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati sought a week’s time to respond to the affidavit, the Bench posted the matter for hearing on January 7.
