New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (December 15) expressed unhappiness and questioned why the entire available leaked audio clips, which allegedly point to the role of former Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh in the 2023 ethnic violence, were not sent for forensic examination.A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe, hearing the matter regarding the ethnic violence in Manipur, said it was a “little disturbed” by the affidavit filed by the petitioners – the Kuki Organization for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) – on November 20 which stated that only select clips had been sent for forensic examination, PTI reported.KOHUR had petitioned the apex court to probe the audio tapes, believed to be from 2023, in which a voice sounding like N. Biren Singh could be heard claiming to be behind the breakout of ethnic violence, which has caused the death of more than 250 people and injured many, while also displacing over 50,000 people from both communities, most of whom are still taking shelter in various relief camps across the state. N. Biren Singh resigned on February 9. Soon after, the Union government clamped President’s Rule in the state for six months, which was later extended by another six months.Biren Singh’s office had claimed then that the audio tapes were not authentic and threatened action against media organisations and others using them.In August this year, the top court had asked the Union government why the forensic report to authenticate the audio tapes has not been submitted even after three months have passed since the court had asked for it. The court then sent it for a fresh examination, stating that it will help clarify two aspects: whether the audio clips were modified, edited or tampered with in any manner; and whether the voice in the disputed clips matched the admitted audio sample of N. Biren Singh.In September 2024, in public interest, The Wire had published those tapes after they were accepted by the judicial commission on the Manipur violence set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs.However, in November 2024, acting on the KOHUR petition, the Supreme Court, had agreed to examine the tapes. The bench led by then Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud asked the petitioner to authenticate it.The petitioner had subsequently approached a highly reputed private lab, the Truth Lab, for the authentication of the tapes, which had stated that there was a “93%” similarity between the voice in the tapes and Biren Singh’s voice as heard in authentic voice samples submitted to it for examination.On Monday, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati requested the court for time to respond to the affidavit.The court will hear the matter next on January 7.