CBI moves Supreme Court to cancel bail of accused in Manipur women parading case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approached the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of bail granted to two men accused of gang-raping and parading two women naked during the 2023 ethnic violence in Manipur.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh on Tuesday issued notice to the two accused who are currently out on bail — Arun Khundongbam alias Nanao and Nameirakpam Kiran Meitei — and sought their response to the CBI’s petitions.

Appearing for the agency, counsel for the CBI told the Court that the case involved extremely serious allegations.

“The accused had paraded a woman naked. This is a gross case. The women were gang-raped and then paraded,” the agency submitted while seeking cancellation of the bail granted to the two men.

Advocate Nizam Pasha, appearing for the victims, also urged the Court to ensure that legal aid counsel are appointed for them if required. The Bench directed that the issue be addressed immediately.

“Regarding the issue of appointment of legal aid counsels for the victims, let that be complied with forthwith,” the Court said.

The case relates to a widely reported incident during the 2023 Manipur violence in which two women from the Kuki-Zo community were stripped and paraded naked by a mob.

A video of the assault surfaced online months later, triggering nationwide outrage and prompting the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the incident.

Also read: SC grants one-time pension relief to women SSC officers denied permanent commission

The violence in Manipur erupted in May 2023 following tensions between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities after a now-withdrawn Manipur High Court directive asking the state government to consider including the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribe list.

Following the Supreme Court’s intervention, the CBI took over the investigation into several cases linked to the violence, including the case related to the assault on the two women.

In August 2023, the top court had directed that trials in CBI-probed cases arising from the Manipur violence be conducted in Assam to ensure a fair trial environment.

Meanwhile, two of the men accused of being part of the mob that assaulted the women were granted bail by the Gauhati High Court in September 2025. The High Court observed that there had been significant delay in the trial, largely due to lapses by the CBI as the prosecution, and said the accused could not be kept in jail indefinitely without a trial.

The trial in the case has now begun. In January this year, a special court in Guwahati framed criminal charges against six men, including the two who are out on bail, in connection with the incident in which the two women were paraded naked and sexually assaulted.