‘Nobody Has The Courage To Make Allegations Against The Chief Minister Without Any Reason’: SC

The case, Irom Chitra Devi v Union of India, made the Supreme Court’s Vacation Bench of Justices A.K.Sikri and Deepak Gupta, express its anguish at the plight of the family in Manipur, which is on the run fearing its safety, because it dared to appeal against the inadequate punishment meted out to the current Chief Minister N.Biren Singh’s son, Ajay Meetai.

Meetai was awarded a five-year jail term under Section 304 of Indian Penal Code – culpable homicide not amounting to murder – for firing at Roger, son of Irom Chitra Devi, on March 20, 2011, and killing him, in a road rage incident. Roger was shot at after he refused to allow Meetai to overtake him in his SUV which had infuriated the latter.

The punishment prescribed under Section 304 IPC is imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine, if the act by which the death is caused is done with the intention of causing death, or of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death; or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, or with fine, or with both, if the act is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention to cause death, or to cause such bodily injury as is likely to cause death.

Apparently, Meetai was convicted and sentenced under Section 304-II of the IPC, which assumes that he did not have the intention to kill Roger.

Irom Chitra Devi’s advocate Kamini Jaiswal told the bench that the family could not get a lawyer in Manipur High Court to file an appeal against the inadequate punishment awarded to Meetai, because of the atmosphere of fear and intimidation, which is likely to follow it, because he happens to be the Chief Minister’s son. As a result, Chandigarh-based lawyer, Utsav Bains filed an appeal in the High Court on behalf of Chitra Devi. The State, despite being the Prosecution, did not file an appeal in the case.

On Monday, Chitra Devi complained to the Supreme Court that both she and Bains had received threats for filing the appeal. Therefore, her family sought directions “to provide security for the safety of the life and liberty of petitioners and their family members against any kind of threat and victimisation for their peaceful stay throughout India”. The petition in the Supreme Court also sought an independent probe by a central agency on the ground that the state police was working at the behest of the convict.

Meetai is still serving his five-year sentence, as he was out of jail for a considerable period, during the trial.

On Monday, the bench asked the Additional Solicitor General, Maninder Singh to seek instructions about providing security by central forces to the parents as they are now residing in Delhi. When Manipur Government informed the bench that it does not have any problem in providing security to the parents of Roger, the bench asked whether anyone would make the kind of allegations which the petitioner has made, against the Chief Minister, without any reason.