“Take this matter seriously. It is not a simple civil suit or a case of partition. Innocent people are dying out there. They are being killed. Start working on it in 24 hours. Do it quickly,” said a Bench led by Justice Aftab Alam after Manipur’s counsel sought four weeks to file an affidavit in response.

The court, however, gave the state time till November 21 to file its reply and fixed the matter for further hearing for November 23.

The Bench asked the petitioner to ensure bringing the matter into the knowledge of the Attorney General so that Centre could be represented properly. It asked the National Human Rights Commission to assist the court.

The apex court had on October 1 issued notices to the Centre and state government on a plea for an independent probe into around 1,500 such cases. It was hearing a PIL initiated by an association of the families of the alleged victims, pleading with the apex court to set up a special investigation team and direct inquiry into all such cases.