Manipur probe panel gets sixth extension; no sign of report yet

The three-member Commission of Inquiry, set up by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to probe the 2023 Manipur ethnic violence, was given a sixth extension on Friday. The Ministry notified that the commission, which was constituted on June 4, 2023, “shall submit its report to the Central government as soon as possible but not later than May 20, 2027”.

More than 300 people have been killed in the ethnic violence that erupted between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei people on May 3, 2023. Around 60,000 people have been displaced from their homes. The probe panel’s report is awaited even as the ethnic conflict has now spread to the Kuki and Naga communities.

Since February this year, more than 60 people have been killed in Naga-Kuki clashes. The commission is now headed by former Supreme Court judge Balbir Singh Chauhan, after Ajai Lamba, the former Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court, resigned as the chairperson of the panel in February this year.

The panel is yet to finalise its report. Justice (retd.) Chauhan is also heading the judicial inquiry into an incident of violence that occurred in Ladakh’s Leh city on September 24, 2025 where four civilians, including a Kargil war veteran, were killed in police firing.

The Ladakh report is yet to be submitted to the government. Manipur’s Commission of Inquiry has received around 11,000 affidavits. President’s rule was imposed in the State on February 13, 2025 and on February 4 this year, a new Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh took oath, ending Central rule.

The inquiry commission is mandated to probe the causes, extent of violence and riots targeting members of different communities, the sequence of events, and whether there were any lapses or dereliction of duty on the part of any of the responsible authorities and individuals.