Imphal: Supreme Court judge, Justice B. R. Gavai, who is leading a five-member team of apex court judges currently visiting violence-hit Manipur, on Saturday said that peace would prevail in this land and peace would return soon and “let us all work together to bring peace and justice”.
The Supreme Court judges team, headed by Justice Gavai, who is also the Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), on Saturday, visited the camps for the ethnic violence affected in Manipur’s Churachandpur and Bishnupur districts and met displaced men, women and children sheltering there.
Interacting with the relief camp inmates, the apex court judge said: “Our country is a true example of unity in diversity. India is our home and India is the home of all of us wherever people are in difficulty the entire country will come to them to ensure their difficulty is solved.”
“We know you are going through a difficult phase but with the assistance of everyone, the executive, legislature and judiciary this can be solved and overcome in a short period.”
Justice Gavai said that the Indian Constitution is a great document and “when we compare our country with the neighbouring countries, we realise our Constitution has kept our country together and united and strong”.
“Please believe in the Constitution and one day things will normalise and Manipur will prosper,” he said.
Justice Gavai, who was accompanied by fellow apex court judges Vikram Nath, M.M. Sundresh, K.V. Vishwanathan, and N. Kotiswar Singh and the Manipur High Court’s Chief Justice D. Krishnakumar and Justice Golmei Gaiphulshilu, also virtually inaugurated legal services camps, medical camps and legal aid clinics in various districts from the Mini Secretariat in the tribal-inhabited Churachandpur district.
The judges, immediately after arriving in Churachandpur, visited the Sadbhavana Mandap relief camp and interacted with the inmates, who have been sheltering in the camps after they were displaced from their villages following the ethnic violence breaking out on May 3, 2023.
From the Churachandpur district, the judges’ team went to the Bishnupur district and interacted with the inmates in the relief camp there.
The Supreme Court judges team also visited the Indian National Army (INA) museum at Moirang in Bishnupur.
According to a Manipur government statement, set up under the Legal Services Authorities (LSA) Act, 1987, the NALSA provides free and competent legal services to the weaker sections of the society, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities, thereby, promoting justice on the basis of equal opportunities.
The mega medical camps were conducted in 106 relief camps covering the entire 290 different relief camps in different districts by clubbing adjoining relief camps together. Around 400 doctors and 800 medical support staff were engaged in conducting the mega medical camps for the violence-hit displaced persons.
Earlier in the day, senior lawyers of Manipur accorded a warm welcome to the Supreme Court judges after they arrived at the Imphal airport. The Supreme Court judges team will also attend the 12th-anniversary celebration of the Manipur High Court on Sunday.
(IANS)
