The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Manipur government to send the entire 48-minute audio clip purportedly containing then chief minister Biren Singh’s admission of his involvement in the 2023 ethnic violence in the state to the National Forensic Science Laboratory (NFSL) in Gujarat.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe asked the NFSL to examine the authenticity of the audio clip and whether the voice in it matched Biren’s. The bench directed the NFSL to submit its findings in a “sealed cover”.

The fresh direction came after two earlier forensic reports could not clearly establish the authenticity of the audio recording, which two Manipur-based NGOs claimed was of Biren.

In the last hearing, the Gujarat NFSL had told the court that a portion of the clip that was sent to it was “tampered with” and not scientifically fit for voice comparison.

The Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust, one of the petitioners, had alleged that the Manipur police had forwarded only short and edited clips to the forensic
laboratory.

Additional solicitor-general Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Manipur government, on Wednesday told the court that the petitioners had not submitted the entire audio clip despite repeated requests. Bhati said it was only after the last hearing on December 15 that the petitioners had furnished the entire audio clip, and the state was willing to send it again to the NFSL for a fresh analysis.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners, said the matter had been listed on at least 10 occasions, and the government was aware of the conversation in the 48-minute clip. The audio transcript was also part of the petition filed in the apex court, he said.

Asked by the bench why the entire clip was not sent to the government, Bhushan said there was no formal
notice in this regard from
the court.

The bench directed the petitioners to send the full 48-minute clip to the Manipur government to be forwarded to the NFSL.

On December 15, the top court had asked the Manipur government why only a portion of the audio recording was sent to the NFSL.

“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 court had asked Bhati.

In August, the top court had directed that the recordings be sent to the Gujarat NFSL after noting that the Guwahati lab didn’t return a clear finding on whether the voice matched Biren’s. The Gujarat NFSL later concluded that the clips were not scientifically fit for forensic voice comparison. Bhushan had claimed that a private lab had concluded that the full audio clip was unedited and there was a 93 per cent chance that the voice in it was Biren’s.