New Delhi, April 17 -- TEAMA bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna took note of the submissions of a counsel appearing for the Centre and the state government to this effect and deferred the hearing on a plea filed by the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) in the week commencing May 5.

The counsel said the report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) will be filed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and sought an adjournment, saying the law officer was unavailable at the moment. Singh resigned as the chief minister of Manipur on February 9, amid rumblings within the state BJP and growing demands for a change of leadership.

Earlier, the top court sought a sealed-cover forensic report from the CFSL on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips alleging Singh's role in the ethnic violence that began in May 2023. KOHUR, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, had sought a court-monitored SIT probe into Singh's alleged role.

"The state is gradually limping back to normalcy and we will keep it (the matter) on hold at the moment," the CJI had said, adding he would see later whether the top court or the high court should hear the case.

The solicitor general agreed with the observations.

Bhushan termed the contents of the audio leaks a "very serious matter" and said Singh was purportedly heard saying that Meitei groups were allowed to loot arms and ammunition of the state government.

"I have annexed transcripts of tape recordings," he added.

The solicitor general said the petitioner had "ideological inclinations" and there was a report by a committee of three high court judges which stated that there were efforts to keep the "pot boiling".

"A truth lab confirmed that 93 per cent it is the voice of the chief minister," said Bhushan, "and truth labs are far more reliable than the FSL reports."

The law officer, however, questioned the veracity of the truth lab report.

On November 8 last year, a bench headed by former CJI D Y Chandrachud directed KOHUR to produce material to indicate the authenticity of some of the leaked audio clips.

Mehta, however, said the plea could be filed in the high court under Article 226 of the Constitution.

More than 260 people have been 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.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.