New Delhi, Dec 16 : The Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern over the selective forensic examination of leaked audio recordings allegedly linked to the 2023 Manipur ethnic violence and questioned why the entire audio material was not sent for analysis despite being available.
A Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe said it was “a little disturbed” by an affidavit filed on November 20, which indicated that only select portions of the audio recordings were forwarded to the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Gandhinagar.
The court noted that instead of the complete 48-minute and 46-second audio recording, the forwarding agency had sent only four short, cut-out clips of durations 30 seconds, 1 minute 28 seconds, 36 seconds and 1 minute 47 seconds for forensic examination.
“If the entire tape was available with you, it should have been sent for forensic examination,” the Bench observed, adding, “Once the entire tape was available with you, the entire tape ought to have been sent to the NFSU.”
The issue assumes significance as the NFSU, based on the limited clips it examined, had concluded that the audio was “tampered” and “altered” and was not scientifically fit for forensic voice comparison, a finding that weakened allegations levelled against former Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh.
The petition has been filed by the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR), which alleged that selective transmission of the audio recordings resulted in a misleading representation of evidence and compromised the forensic findings. The organisation has sought a court-monitored probe by a special investigation team into the leaked tapes.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that a private forensic report by Truth Lab had found at least one of the recordings to be unedited and had identified the voice sample as that of the former chief minister. He said it was possible that the complete set of recordings placed before the court had not been forwarded to the NFSU.
When it was argued that a portion of the audio was withheld to protect the identity of the whistleblower, the Bench appeared unconvinced and questioned the delay in sending the full material earlier, remarking, “But why should time be wasted again?”
The court also referred to its earlier orders in the matter. On August 19, it had criticised the Central Forensic Science Laboratory’s examination as “misdirected”, and on August 25, it referred the recordings to the NFSU to assess whether the clips were tampered with and whether the voices matched admitted samples. On November 3, the apex court noted that the NFSU had found the clips examined by it to be edited and unfit for comparison.
The case is linked to the ethnic violence that erupted in Manipur in May 2023, leaving over 260 people dead and displacing thousands following clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities. Singh resigned as chief minister on February 9, 2025, and President’s Rule was imposed in the state on February 13.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the state, sought time to file a response to the affidavit. Granting the request, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing on January 7.
