IMPHAL: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a transfer petition on November 26 to move eight criminal cases from the NIA Special Court in the district of Imphal, State of Manipur, to the NIA Special Court in Guwahati, Assam.
A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan allowed the NIA's transfer petition, taking into consideration the prayer made by the NIA that the situation in the State of Manipur was not conducive to conducting a free and fair trial.
The 8 criminal matters, unrelated to each other, are under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The Manipur Police subsequently transferred them to the NIA for investigation.
The Court said, "This transfer petition, under Section 13(2) of the NIA Act, 2008 and Section 406 CrPC, 1973, is at the request of the NIA (MHA). The petition requests the transfer of the following cases from the NIA Special Court in Imphal, State of Manipur, to the NIA Special Court in Guwahati, Assam."
Before the Court, the counsel on behalf of the different respondents appeared, including Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves. While Gonsalves prayed for the trial's transfer to Delhi, others, including Advocate Siddhartha Borgohain, advocated for its transfer to Mizoram or Meghalaya. He stated that Manipur has only one NIA court.
However, Justice Pardiwala stated that only one state could host the trials. Further, Advocate Ahanthem Henry (for respondent 13) expressed that it is not possible to transfer from Manipur to Guwahati as the air ticket is expensive, whereas the roads are all blocked.
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