Manipur violence probe panel gets sixth extension, deadline pushed to May 20, 2027

The Centre has granted a sixth extension to the three-member Commission of Inquiry probing the causes and lapses that led to the Meitei-Kuki violence in Manipur, giving it until May 20, 2027, to submit its report, according to a Union home ministry notification issued on Friday.

The Centre has extended the deadline for the sixth time for the panel probing the causes and lapses behind the 2023 Manipur violence. (reuters)The commission is mandated to probe the causes and spread of the violence and riots targeting members of different communities, which started on May 3, 2023.

The commission was supposed to submit its report to the central government “as soon as possible but not later than six months from the date of its first sitting (June 4, 2023)”. “The Commission shall submit its report to the Central Government as soon as possible but not later than the 20th May, 2027,” the notification on Friday said.

Even as the commission is yet to submit its findings related to the Meitei-Kuki clashes that started on May 3, 2023, Manipur has been roiled by clashes between the state’s two tribes – the Nagas and the Kukis. More than 65 people have been killed in the clashes.

The latest incident occurred on Friday, when four Naga people were killed by Kuki militants in an ambush along the Imphal-Ukhrul highway. A day earlier, a Kuki person was killed by Naga militants. The Naga-Kuki clashes started in the state after a drunken brawl in Litan village of Ukhrul district.

People in Manipur aware of the development said that the three members of the commission, headed by retired Justice BS Chauhan, had visited Manipur between May 29 and 31 as part of the probe. The other two members are retired IAS officer Himanshu Shekhar Das and retired IPS officer Aloka Prabhakar.

Earlier, on May 13, 2026, the commission was given a six-month extension until November 20 to submit its report. According to a government notification, the commission will probe the sequence of events leading to the violence, all facts relating to it, any lapses or dereliction of duty by responsible authorities or individuals, and the adequacy of administrative measures taken to prevent and deal with the violence and riots.

Prawesh Lama, an Associate Editor at Hindustan Times with nearly two decades of frontline reporting experience across India’s conflict zones, border regions, and disaster-hit areas. He writes on internal security, insurgency, the Northeast, and Left-wing extremism and has reported from India’s hinterland and some of the most sensitive and strategically critical regions.Read More