The Centre on Sunday set up a three-member Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Manipur violence.
The three-member panel will be headed by former Gauhati High Court Chief Justice Ajai Lamba. The other two members are retired IAS officer Himanshu Shekhar Das and retired IPS officer Aloka Prabhakar.
The commission will make inquiry with respect of the causes and spread of the violence and riots targeting members of different communities, which took place in Manipur on May 3 and thereafter, according to a notification issued by the Union Home Ministry.
It will probe the sequence of events leading to, and all the facts relating to such violence; whether there were any lapses or dereliction of duty in this regard on the part of any of the responsible authorities/individuals and adequacy of the administrative measures taken to prevent, and to deal with the violence and riots.
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The inquiry by the commission shall look into the complaints or allegations that may be made before it by any individual or association.
The commission shall submit its report to the central government as soon as possible but not later than six months from the date of its first sitting.
The commission, however, if it deems fit, can make interim reports to the central government before the said date.
Manipur has been witnessing sporadic violence ever since ethnic clashes broke out on May 3.
The ethnic violence first broke out after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
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The violence was preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land, which had led to a series of smaller agitations.
In the updated assessment of Manipur violence, the state government on Friday said that 98 people were killed and 310 were injured.
The satement by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said that 37,450 people were in 272 relief camps at the time.
In all, 4,014 cases of arson have been reported since the violence broke out in the state on May 3, according to the statement issued by the CMO.
Till Friday, the Manipur Police had registered 3,734 cases and arrested 65 people for their involvement in the violence, the statement said.
The statement also said that sporadic incidents of firing or torching of houses by miscreants are becoming rare now as coordinated effort is made by different security agencies.
(With PTI inputs)
