Supreme Court Asks Why Full Audio Not Sent To Lab In Manipur Tapes Case, Government To Reply

The Supreme Court on Monday questioned why the entire available leaked audio clips, which a petition alleged pointed to the role of former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh in the 2023 ethnic violence, were not sent for forensic examination.

The Supreme Court said it was "little disturbed" by the affidavit filed on behalf of the petitioners on November 20 that "states to the effect that only select clippings were sent".

The Supreme Court questioned the government authorities why the entire available leaked audio clip of around 48 minutes was not sent to Gujarat's National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) for examination. The NFSU had virtually given a clean chit, saying the leaked audio clips were "tampered with".

Singh resigned as chief minister in February.

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe on Monday expressed unhappiness over the matter. The respondent's lawyer said the affidavit was not served upon them.

"Now this affidavit, which according to you has not been served upon you, states to the effect that only select clippings were sent," the bench said.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, said that probably the full audio clips filed by them were not sent to NFSU.

When the counsel for the respondents said they would respond to the affidavit, the bench asked why the full material was not sent to the NFSU and observed, "But why should time be wasted again?"

The bench then sought to know "how much is the material actually available?"

Bhushan said the total audio tapes were of roughly 56 minutes and the petitioners have filed 48 minutes in the court. He said the remaining part of the audio clips identifies 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.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, who appeared in the matter, sought a week's time to respond to the affidavit. The bench observed that the audio clips of 48 minutes ought to have been sent to the NFSU.

Taking the affidavit on record, the bench fixed the matter for hearing on January 7, while noting that Bhati has sought some time to respond to the affidavit.

The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR), which has sought an independent probe into the matter. On November 3, the Supreme Court cited the NFSU as saying the leaked audio clips were "tampered with".

According to the NFSU's report, the audio clips exhibited signs of editing and tampering and were not scientifically fit for forensic voice comparison, the court had said.

Bhushan referred to a separate forensic report and said it had found that one of the recordings was unedited.

On August 19, the Supreme Court expressed displeasure over the Central Forensic Science Laboratory's (CFSL's) exercise to test the audio recordings, calling it "misdirected". The court said it hadn't asked about the authenticity of the audio clips but directed testing of the voice samples.

While hearing the plea on August 25, the Supreme Court referred the matter to NFSU, Gandhi Nagar, to examine the audio clips in question to determine whether they were modified, edited or tampered with in any manner.

It had also told the NFSU to determine whether the voice in the disputed audio clips matches the voice in the admitted audio clip, so as to give a clear finding that it was the same person who was speaking in all the audio clips.

On May 5, the Supreme Court examined a forensic report on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips and asked the state government to file a fresh report on the probe. It previously sought a sealed-cover forensic report from the CFSL on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips.

Over 260 people were killed and thousands displaced since ethnic violence broke out between the Meitei and Kuki communities in May 2023.