India's Commission of Inquiry into the Manipur violence has been active since June 2023, missed four consecutive deadlines, watched its first chairman resign without public explanation in February 2026, swore in a replacement on March 1, and must now produce its findings by May 20 — three years of mandate, zero pages of report.
On June 4, 2023, the Central government established a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the causes, spread, and administrative failures of the Manipur violence. It was given six months. It missed the deadline. A second deadline — September 2024 — was missed. Then December 2024. Then May 2025. On the fourth extension, its chairman Justice Ajai Lamba resigned without public explanation in February 2026. Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan, a retired Supreme Court judge, was appointed chairman on March 1, 2026, inheriting a commission that had spent nearly three years producing nothing, with 77 days until his deadline. That deadline is May 20, 2026. In the three years the commission has been active: 260+ people killed, nearly 70,000 displaced, 59,000 still in relief camps as of March 2026, 6,200+ arson cases registered in 2023 alone, and approximately 6,000 firearms looted from police arsenals. Zero convictions have been secured. The government has not publicly explained what the first chairman produced — or did not produce — during 32 months in charge.