The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Manipur government why only a portion of an audio recording, which allegedly pointed to the role of former chief minister N. Biren Singh in the 2023 ethnic violence, was sent for forensic examination.
The National Forensic Science Laboratory (NFSL) in Gujarat had earlier said the leaked audio clip sent to it had been “tampered with”.
“Please tell us when the entire tape was available with you, then the entire tape ought to have been sent to the NFSL.... Why should you send this limited one?” the bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe asked additional solicitor-general Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Manipur government.
The top court said it was a “little disturbed” by the affidavit filed on behalf of the petitioner on November 20 that “states to the effect that only select clippings were sent”.
“Why should we waste our time again on this?” the bench queried while granting the state one more week to file a counter-affidavit to the petitioner’s claim.
The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust, an NGO, had claimed to have had an audio clip of Biren allegedly claiming to have incited the violence in the state in 2023 after clashes erupted between the Meiteis and Kukis.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on
January 7.
On November 3, the NFSL had told the bench in a sealed cover report that the purported audio clip was “modified” and “tampered” with.
At the last hearing, the court had directed the petitioner NGO to file its response to the NFSL findings.
When the matter came up for hearing on Monday, Bhati told the court that the affidavit filed by the petitioner had not been served upon the government. The bench referred to the NGO’s affidavit alleging that the full audio clip was not sent to the NFSL.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, said the audio tapes cumulatively ran into roughly 56 minutes and the petitioner had submitted 48 minutes 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.
He said that probably the 48-minute audio clip filed by them had not been sent to the NFSL by the Manipur government. Therefore, the findings of the NFSL saying the clip was “tampered” could be taken as the correct view, Bhushan added.
In August, the court had directed that the recordings be sent for forensic examination to the NFSL after noting that the Guwahati FSL didn’t return a clear finding on whether the voice matched Biren’s as alleged in a PIL.
NFSL Gujarat later had concluded that the clip was altered and did not constitute the source recording and therefore was not scientifically fit for forensic
voice comparison.