UKHRUL: The Supreme Court of India on Thursday directed petitioner Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) to submit the “first-generation copy” of the complete leaked audio clips allegedly involving former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh to a national forensic laboratory for examination, underscoring the need for original-quality evidence in the case.
The tapes are claimed to contain conversations suggesting Singh’s role in orchestrating and instigating ethnic violence during the 2023–2024 Manipur conflict.
The matter, listed for hearing around ten times, gained momentum after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, placed the complete transcript of the recordings before the court. The fresh scrutiny follows an October report by the National Forensic Sciences University, which found that the audio clips earlier submitted showed signs of tampering and were not scientifically suitable for comparison.
In an affidavit, KOHUR alleged that the Manipur Police had forwarded only short, edited clips to the forensic laboratory instead of the full recording. Bhushan told the bench that a complete 48-minute transcript along with the corresponding audio had now been placed on record.
The bench questioned the government over why the full audio had not been submitted earlier. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said authorities received the complete recording only after the previous hearing in December and that the petitioner had not provided it earlier.
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In January, the court had directed the forensic university to analyse the entire 48-minute clip and compare it with Singh’s admitted voice sample.
During the latest hearing in April, the bench led by Justice Sanjay Kumar was informed that the recording had been edited, making it difficult to conclusively determine its authenticity or confirm whether the voice was Singh’s.
The court observed on Thursday that providing “a copy of a copy of a copy” would be “pointless,” noting that the evidentiary value diminishes with each duplication.
Bhushan said efforts would be made to obtain the first-generation copy of the audio, adding that the original device could not be handed over as it would reveal the identity of the whistleblower.
Bhati informed the court that the forensic laboratory would require about six weeks to examine the recording and submit its report.
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