Oting Killings: SC likely to hear Nagaland Govt’s petition on Jan 21

Morung Express News 
Dimapur | January 6

The Supreme Court is likely to resume the hearing of Writ Petition (Criminal) filed by Nagaland Government concerning the Oting killings and challenging the Union Government’s decision to decline sanction to the State authorities from proceeding against the army personnel allegedly involved in the incident.

According to the case details on the apex court website, the case is tentatively scheduled (likely) to be listed on January 21 (computer-generated).

The record of proceedings before the Registrar of the Supreme Court Sujata Singh on December 16, 2024  stated that  four weeks times were granted to both the respondents to file counter affidavit. 

The Ministry of Defence and Union of India are respondents in the case. 

As per the December 16 order, the lead counsel for the petitioner (State of Nagaland) has also e-filed an application seeking permission to file additional documents.

Accordingly, the Court directed the matter to be listed after the expiry of four weeks with all the pending applications, noting that earlier on July 15, 2024, it had issued issue notice to the respondents, returnable in six weeks.

As reported earlier, an apex court bench led by then the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had issued notice in response to the petition. The development came after the Department of Military Affairs under the Ministry of Defence denied sanction to prosecute 30 army personnel allegedly involved in the Oting incident. 

While the case was filed in April, it was first heard in July. 

A press release issued by the Nagaland Advocate General’s office on July 15, 2024 informed that an FIR was registered following the incident, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was constituted to conduct a detailed investigation.  Despite the SIT’s findings, the Central Government declined to grant sanction for prosecution, citing reasons outlined in the sanction order. 

The State Government subsequently instructed Advocate General and his team, to pursue the matter in the Supreme Court, it added. 

According to the AG’s office the points raised in the petition was that the “leader of the army officers involved in the incident was given caution by his sepoy through a known source that the underground factions are not in Tiru Bridge but are now operating from Wapnyu side which is a different location.”

In spite of the caution, he went ahead with the operation resulting in killing of 6 mine workers, 7 villagers and injuring another 14, the petition said. 

It was further brought to the notice of the court that “no warning was given before killing as mandated under law and further even the warning must be in the local language.” 

The AG’s office pointed out that the wife of one of the officers had filed a petition for quashing the SIT report and in the course of the proceedings the Central Government declined sanction to the state authorities from proceeding against the army personnel. 

This resulted in the petition for setting aside the refusal of sanction order.

It must be noted here in another ruling on September 17, 2024 the Supreme Court had quashed the criminal proceedings against the 21 Para SF (Special Forces) soldiers accused in the incident, with the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) serving as the protective shield. 

The Court then upheld the two writ petitions, filed in 2022, by the wives of the accused commandos challenging the FIRs/criminal proceedings against their husbands and other Army personnel. 

The petitioners sought the court to quash the case, “and all other ancillary proceedings” against the commandos, emanating from the criminal case filed by the Nagaland Police in connection to the Oting Killings. 

The decision, delivered by a two-judge bench comprising of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale, cited the immunity provided by the AFSPA, and the Central government denying prosecution sanction against the accused soldiers. 

The ruling, however, came with a caveat. “If ultimately at some stage, sanction is granted under Section 6 of the AFSP Act, 1958, the proceedings pursuant to the impugned FIRs are liable to be continued… according to law and may take its own course as provided under law,” the Court ruled. 

The Court also rejected the state government’s request to direct the Army to initiate departmental disciplinary proceedings against the accused soldiers and said such action is within the sole discretion of the armed forces.

Background
The Oting Killings of December 4, 2021, was the result of a covert counter-insurgency operation conducted by a unit of the 21 Para SF.  In the botched operation, 8 civilians travelling in a pickup were ambushed, killing 6 on the spot and critically wounding 2 others.

The victims were civilian coal miners returning home from the coal mines in Tiru valley, Mon district. The botched operation was discovered by villagers, who found the commandos in the process of concealing the dead bodies of the 6 victims. The angry villagers confronted the commandos. It turned into a deadly confrontation as 7 more civilians were gunned down. The commandos also sustained casualty, with one succumbing later. 

The effect of the killings reverberated in Mon town the next day on December 5, in which a civilian protestor succumbed to firing from security personnel. The events of December 5 were not covered by the terms of reference of the SIT.