The Supreme Court expressed shock over scores of deaths inside Manipur relief camps for internally displaced people. A Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant ordered the State Chief Secretary to submit an affidavit explaining what actions were taken following official warnings and the Justice Gita Mittal committee findings on unnatural deaths. The court questioned why postmortems were conducted in only twenty of thirty-four reported death cases and asked the State to justify compensation of just twenty to thirty thousand rupees for families of those who died unnaturally.
Reports before the court indicated more than thirty camp deaths, including one linked to an alleged sexual assault, highlighting gaps in medical care and policing. The Manipur State Legal Services Authority was directed to file a separate status report, ensure FIRs in all unnatural death cases, and push for swift investigations. The Bench emphasized that the safety and dignity of camp residents must be protected and not treated as an afterthought years after the ethnic violence began in May 2023.