India, Sept. 17 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed shock over 34 unnatural deaths at the camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in ethnic violence-hit Manipur, questioning the state's failure to pursue investigations by registering criminal cases and conducting post-mortems.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana directed the state chief secretary to file an affidavit on incidents in camps, especially of unnatural deaths.

A three-member court-appointed Justice (retd) Gita Mittal-led committee, overseeing relief and rehabilitation in Manipur, told the bench that it found the chief secretary's response unsatisfactory after it sought it following a news report in June on t...