SC approves the petition against 30 soldiers involved in killing 13 Civilians of Nagaland back in 2021

The Nagaland government has moved the Supreme Court to prosecute 30 soldiers involved in the alleged killing of 13 civilians during an operation in Mon district in 2021

The Nagaland government has moved the Supreme Court to prosecute 30 soldiers involved in the alleged killing of 13 civilians during an operation in Mon district on December 4, 2021. The civilians, coal miners traveling in a Bolero pickup, were reportedly gunned down in a failed ambush targeting militants. The Nagaland government contends that the Army ambush team fired without challenging or identifying the civilians first. The Supreme Court has admitted Nagaland’s writ petition challenging the Central government’s denial of sanction for prosecuting the soldiers named in the state police’s FIR. The petition, filed under Article 32, invokes the violation of the fundamental rights of citizens. State advocate general K N Balgopal asserts that despite having substantial evidence against the soldiers, including a Major, the Centre has refused prosecution sanction. The Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and including Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, has issued notices to the Centre and the Ministry of Defence, requesting responses within four weeks.

Previously, in July 2022, the Supreme Court had stayed the prosecution of the personnel from the Alpha team of 21 Para (Special Forces) following petitions from their wives, who argued that their husbands were being prosecuted without the mandatory sanction from the Centre. These petitioners had also sought to quash the FIRs. In February 2023, the Centre refused to sanction the prosecution of these personnel, a decision the Nagaland government criticized as arbitrary and against public interest. They argued that the Union government’s refusal lacked due consideration of the evidence collected by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police. The state emphasized that the ambush team had mistakenly identified the civilians as militants based on superficial factors such as carrying a gun, wearing dark clothes, and quickly entering the vehicle—common characteristics among villagers in Nagaland. They further pointed out that the Army surveillance team lacked basic knowledge of the local context, where it is typical for villagers to carry hunting guns.

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