The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the Central Forensic Science Laboratory's (CFSL) exercise to test audio recordings pointing to the alleged role of former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh in the ethnic violence in the state, calling it "misdirected".
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and Satish Chandra Sharma said it hadn't asked about the authenticity of audio clips but directed testing of the voice samples.
"We had not asked about the authenticity of the video. What we are asking for is after testing that voice with the admitted voice of the individual whether it can be identified that the same persons are speaking in both?" the Supreme Court said.
"We don't need the authenticity of the video to be established. The entire exercise seems to be misdirected. Only wishy-washy answers are being given. The CFSL is under the impression that we want to know if the video is authentic or not," the bench told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati.
The Supreme Court rejected an application filed by Biren Singh's daughter seeking to be added as a party to the case and said it wasn't a "family support programme".
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR), sought an independent special investigation team (SIT) to take up the matter.
He alleged that the same government, which the former chief minister belongs to, has administrative control over the CFSL laboratory.
The Supreme Court rejected that line of argument.
"You cannot suspect the bonafides of every organisation on the ground of administrative control. We will have to bring an organisation from abroad," the top court said.
The matter was posted for hearing on August 25 as Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was in another court.
The Supreme Court previously questioned the state government for not placing on record a fresh forensic report on the authenticity of leaked audio clips despite its directions.
On May 5, a bench headed by former Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna examined a forensic report on the authenticity of leaked audio clips alleging the role of the former Manipur chief minister, and ordered the state government to file a fresh report on the probe.
It opened the sealed cover report of the CFSL submitted by Mr Mehta and ordered him to seek instructions from the state officers on the investigation.
The state government has informed the bench that a forensic report on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips alleging the role of Mr Singh in the ethnic violence was ready to be filed.
Mr Singh resigned as the chief minister on February 9.
Earlier too, the Supreme had sought a sealed-cover forensic report from the CFSL on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips alleging Mr Singh's role in the ethnic violence that began in May 2023.
KOHUR had sought a court-monitored SIT probe. Mr Bhushan termed the contents of the audio leaks a "very serious matter" and said Mr Singh was purportedly heard saying that Meitei groups were allowed to loot arms and ammunition of the state government.
On November 8 last year, a bench headed by former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud directed KOHUR to produce material to indicate the authenticity of some of the leaked audio clips.
Over 260 people were killed and thousands displaced since the ethnic violence broke out between the Imphal valley-based Meitei and neighbouring hills-based Kuki communities in May 2023.
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