Supreme Court says NFSL says role of former Manipur CM in leaked audio clip has been tampered with

The Supreme Court on Monday (November 3) said the National Forensic Science Laboratory (NFSL) in Gujarat has said that the leaked audio clips, which allegedly point to the alleged role of former Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh in the 2023 caste violence in the state, were “tampered with”.

A bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Alok Aradhe said that, as per the NFSL report, the audio clip showed signs of editing and tampering and was not scientifically fit for forensic voice comparison.

Citing the NFSL report, the bench said, “In the result, no opinion can be given about the similarity or dissimilarity of the speakers in question and the controlled clip.”

The top court was hearing a petition filed by Kuki Organization for Human Rights Trust (Kohur), which has sought an independent SIT investigation into the case.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Kohur, said a copy of the NFSL report would be shared with the parties so that they could respond to it.

The bench directed the apex court registry to hand over a copy of the report to the counsel appearing for the parties and posted the matter for hearing on December 8.

The bench said that, as per the report, the audio clips do not constitute source recordings and are not scientifically suitable for forensic voice comparison.

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

“We have shared the findings in the report (of NFSL) which state that the impugned recording has been tampered with,” the bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

“There is a lot of peace there now…,” Mehta said.

On August 19, the apex court expressed displeasure over the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) exercise of examining audio recordings pointing to the alleged role of the former Manipur Chief Minister in caste violence, calling it “misdirected”.

Hearing the plea on August 25, the top court referred the matter to NFSL, Gandhi Nagar, to examine the concerned audio clips to find whether they were modified, edited or tampered with in any way.

It also asked the NFSL to determine whether the voice in the disputed audio clip matched the voice in the approved audio clip, so that a clear conclusion could be drawn that it was the same person who was speaking in all the audio clips.

The top court on May 5 examined a forensic report on the authenticity of the leaked audio clip and asked the state government to file a fresh report on the investigation.

Singh resigned as Chief Minister of Manipur on February 9 amid uproar within the state BJP and growing demands for change in leadership.

The top court had earlier sought a sealed cover forensic report from CFSL on the authenticity of the leaked audio clip, which alleged Singh’s role in the caste violence that began in May 2023.

On November 8, 2024, the apex court directed Kohur to produce materials to indicate the authenticity of some leaked audio clips.

More than 260 people were killed and thousands displaced after ethnic violence broke out in May 2023 between the Meitei communities in the Imphal valley and the neighboring hill-based Kuki communities.

The clashes began after ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organized in the hill districts to protest against a Manipur High Court order demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Meitei community.

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

Kohur’s plea alleged that Singh had “played a key role in instigating, organizing and subsequently centrally orchestrating large-scale killing, destruction and other forms of violence against Kuki-dominated areas in Manipur”.

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