In its order, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale clarified and pointed out that the case may be taken to its logical end, if the Centre sanctions its prosecution against the Army personnel.
The top court refused to consider the parties’ submissions, considering that Section 6 the AFSPA bars any prosecution, suit, or other legal proceedings except with the previous sanction of the Centre. “The interim order, granted by the order of July 19, 2022, deserves to be made absolute, and the proceedings arising from the impugned FIRS deserve to be quashed,” the bench observed.
As per the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Union government’s approval is mandatory to initiate the proceedings against security personnel for actions discharged in the service of duty.
While setting aside the criminal case and proceedings, the bench said the order will not prevent the Army from taking any disciplinary action against the personnel.
In last April, the Central government in its order had denied the requisite sanction to prosecute these Army men.
Challenging the Centre’s order, the Nagaland state government had moved the apex court against this denial of sanction to prosecute the Army personnel. It filed a separate petition in the top court, in which notice has been issued by a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.
The Supreme Court, in July this year, admitted the writ petition filed by the Nagaland government challenging the Centre’s order denying sanction for prosecution of 30 Armymen who were named in the FIR lodged by state.
According to the prosecution, the civilians were allegedly gunned down in a botched-up operation to ambush militants in Mon district on December 4, 2021. The petition has been filed under Article 32 invoking violation of the fundamental rights of citizens.
K N Balgopal, senior lawyer and state law officer, said that the state police have clinching evidence against the soldiers, including a Major. The bench issued notices to the Centre and the ministry of defence and sought their responses within four weeks.
After the initial ambush killed six civilians, angry villagers clashed with the Army. This led to the death of seven more villagers and a soldier.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a PIL filed by a lawyer, seeking directions to amend the rules and the Advocate Act 1961 to exempt the advocates from wearing the traditional black coats and gowns in the scorching heat in summer, as he claimed that making lawyers wear black coats in summer was unsafe.
The SC on Tuesday in its order rejected a plea filed by a US-based physicist challenging a provision of the Atomic Energy Act which bars private parties from obtaining a license to deal in nuclear materials, saying these private parties are capable of being misused, including for making bombs.
