Oting Killing: SC stays Nagaland Police proceedings against 30 army personnel

Our Correspondent

Kohima, July 20 (EMN): The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed proceedings against 30 army personnel booked by the Nagaland Police in connection with Mon’s Oting killing incident, where 13 unarmed civilians were killed on December 4, 2021.

The court was hearing two pleas, one of which was filed by Anjali Gupta, wife of Major Ankush Gupta, one of the army officers booked by the Nagaland Police, according to a report by Bar and Bench on Wednesday.

The petitioner sought quashing of the concerned first information report (FIR), the findings and recommendations of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the state government, and all other ancillary proceedings arising out of the December incident including the complaint filed by the National Human Rights Commission.

The order passed by a bench of Justices — Indira Banerjee and V Ramasubramanian — also recorded that the death of a paratrooper during the incident had not been investigated yet.

The petitioner submitted that officials were only “performing their bonafide duties as directed by the Union of India, but the SIT so constituted to conduct a free and impartial investigation into the said incident has acted in a completely arbitrary, unilateral and illegal manner, by picking and choosing the evidence available before it to appease the public outcry and to assuage the concerns of the chose few”.

The plea accused the SIT and state functionaries of having turned a blind eye to the safety of the accused and their family members by revealing their personal information. Further, intelligence received by the accused was not taken cognisance of.

It was contended that the SIT attributed criminality to the accused ‘in its zest’ to conclude the probe and appease a section of society on the basis of a ‘lopsided investigation’.

“Despite being personnel protected by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and the Army Act, they are being proceeded against under the Criminal Procedure Code instead”, it was pointed out.

The petition was filed through advocate Astha Sharma.

The Nagaland Police had in May stated that 30 members of the operation team of 21-Para Security Forces, including one Major, two subedars, eight Hav/THM, four Nk, six L/Nk and nine paratroopers, were named in the charge sheet filed in connection with the Mon killing incident in December last year.