SC asks Manipur to pay Rs 3K to civil services aspirants for travelling outside to take UPSC exam
New Delhi, May 17: In a rare order, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the Manipur government to pay Rs 3,000 per day to civil services aspirants from its violence-hit hill districts to travel outside the state to appear in the UPSC Civil Services Examination on May 26.
In a special hearing at 6:50 p.m., a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the grievances of the civil services aspirants from hill districts of the state who have opted for examination centres outside Manipur over safety concerns.
"The persons who are presently residing in hill districts and applied for the UPSC examination shall be paid Rs 3,000 per day per candidate so as to enable such candidates to travel outside the state to attend the examination. Any candidate desirous of obtaining this benefit should indicate the nodal officer where they are currently staying on the email address as provided in this order," it said.
The top court was hearing a plea on behalf of 140 students seeking transfer of examination centres outside Manipur.
During the proceedings, it transpired that the state government was asked by the high court to give Rs 1,500 to those who have opted for an examination centre outside Manipur.
"While it was not practical to arrange transport for others, the allowance was increased from 1,500. We are of view that the quantum ordered by HC is increased to Rs 3,000," the CJI said and disposed of the plea.
Earlier on March 29, the UPSC had told the Delhi High Court that it will permit candidates from the hill districts of Manipur who have opted for Imphal as their examination centre to change it and that the state government will facilitate their travel.
The commission had said such aspirants can choose any of the centres in Aizawl, Mizoram; Kohima, Nagaland; Shillong, Meghalaya; Dispur, Assam; Jorhat, Assam; Kolkata, West Bengal; and Delhi by making a request for change of examination centre between April 8 and 19 through an e-mail.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had said that since the Manipur government has expressed its inability to open examination centres in Churachandpur and Kangpokpi, it was not feasible to open and operate examination venues there for the UPSC examination.
Manipur plunged into violence in May 2023 over a high court order directing the state government to consider including the non-tribal Meitei community in the list of Scheduled Tribes.
This order led to rampant ethnic clashes. More than 160 people have been killed and several hundred injured since the ethnic violence first broke out in the state on May 3 when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
