Manipur violence SC orders forensic examination of entire 48-minute audio clip

PTI, January 07, 2026, New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered forensic examination of the entire 48-minute audio recording which a plea has alleged that points to the role of former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh in the 2023 ethnic violence.

A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and K Vinod Chandran said that the entire available leaked audio be forwarded to the National Forensic Science University (NFSU), Gandhinagar, for forensic examination.

“The entire 48 minutes of the conversation in question along with the admitted voice recordings of the former Manipur CM are available... All the voice recordings furnished to the respondents by the learned counsel for the petitioner shall also be included therewith and forwarded to the National Forensic Science University Gandhinagar,” the bench ordered.

It also asked the NFSU to expedite the process and submit final report in a sealed cover.

During brief proceedings, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust, said the matter had been listed around 10 times.

He submitted that the petition itself contained the transcript of the full 48-minute conversation and that the audio had been supplied.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for Manipur government, said that the state received the full recording only after the last hearing.

On December 15 last year, the bench questioned why the entire available leaked audio clips were not sent for forensic examination.

The top court had said it was "little disturbed" by the affidavit filed on behalf of the petitioners on November 20, 2025 that "states to the effect that only select clippings were sent".

The NFSU had virtually given a clean chit, saying the leaked audio clips were "tampered with".

Singh resigned as the chief minister of Manipur on February 9 last year, amid rumblings within the state BJP and growing demands for a change in leadership.

The apex court was hearing the petition filed by the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR), which has sought an independent SIT probe into the matter.

On November 3, the apex court noted that the NFSU had said that the leaked audio clips were "tampered with".

According to the NFSU's report, the audio clips exhibited signs of editing and tampering and were not scientifically fit for forensic voice comparison, the court had said.

Bhushan had referred to a separate forensic report and said it had found that one of the recordings was unedited.

On May 5 last year, the apex court examined a forensic report on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips and asked the state government to file a fresh report on the probe.

The top court had previously sought a sealed-cover forensic report from the CFSL on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips.

Over 260 people were 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.

The clashes began after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against an order of the Manipur High Court on the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Bhushan had alleged that the recorded conversation prima facie showed the complicity and involvement of the state machinery in the violence against the Kuki Zo community.

KOHUR's plea alleged that Singh was instrumental in "inciting, organising and thereafter centrally orchestrating the large-scale murder, destruction and other forms of violence against the Kuki-dominated areas in Manipur".