Guwahati: The one-year anniversary of the firingg incident in Nagaland’s Mon district have completed one year on Sunday which resulted in the deaths of up to 14 people, 13 civilians and one soldier and the Konyak Union (KU) has criticised the federal government for refusing to authorise the prosecution of the Army personnel responsible for the incident.
The Vice President of the union HA Hongnao Konyak was quoted by New Indian Express saying, “The State Government constituted the SIT. It conducted a probe and filed the chargesheet but the central government has not granted sanction to prosecute the culprits or book them.”
In the chargesheet submitted by the special investigative team (SIT) regarding the murder of 13 civilians during the failed military operation, at least 30 army members were implicated.
In a counter-insurgency ambush, civilians were killed as a result of the security forces’ failure to adhere to standard operating procedures and rules of engagement, according to the conclusions of the SIT.
The victims’ family members lamented that the fact that justice had not been served to them despite the fact that the investigating team had submitted a charge sheet identifying 30 security forces, including a major on the first anniversary of the firing incident.
Hongnao said, “Since they were not punished, the families have not got justice. The Army also conducted an internal probe. We don’t know what happened to it.”
It should be noted that on this day last year, Indian Army commandos opened fire on six coal miners in the area of Oting village after mistaking them for insurgents.
When the villagers retaliated, the security personnel also opened fire on six other people from the same village and one from Upper Tiru village.
One more soldier died in the shooting incident.