New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the criminal proceedings initiated against 30 Army personnel implicated in the case of the alleged killing of 13 civilians in Nagaland‘s Mon district in 2021.
Allowing the appeal filed by the wife of one of the implicated officers, a bench presided over by Justice Vikram Nath said that the proceedings in the impugned First Information Reports shall stand closed. The court added that if the sanction is granted, the same may be taken to its logical conclusion.
The Apex Court added, “The Armed Forces can do the needful with regard to the disciplinary action.”
The Centre had earlier refused to accord sanction under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958, for their prosecution.
The incident took place on December 4, 2021, when an Army team allegedly fired at a pickup truck carrying miners in Oting village in eastern Nagaland, mistaking them for militants. The subsequent firing led to the tragic deaths of the six civilians.
Following public outrage and demands for justice, the Nagaland government had registered a case against the army personnel.
After the incident, the Nagaland Assembly, in a special session, unanimously resolved to demand the Centre to repeal AFSPA from the state.
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However, the Supreme Court’s ruling, based on technical grounds related to the absence of necessary sanctions from the central government for prosecuting army personnel under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), has raised concerns about the accountability of the military in such cases.
