Indian soldiers who ‘killed civilians in botched raid’ will not face prosecution

India’s government has refused to grant permission for police to prosecute 30 soldiers after a botched anti-insurgency operation in the northeastern state of Nagaland led to the deaths of 13 civilians.

On 4 December 2021, Indian army troops opened fire at a pickup truck carrying eight local miners near Oting village in Nagaland’s Mon district.

What was believed to be a counter-insurgency operation based on a tip turned out to be a case of “mistaken identity”, the military later admited.

Six miners died on the spot, while two survived. Another seven civilians died, as well as a member of the security forces, in a wave of clashes that followed. The incident sparked the deadliest violence in years in a state that has been racked by insurgency.

In a statement on Wednesday, Nagaland’s police said India’s defence ministry had refused “sanction to prosecute” the accused army personnel.

“The competent authority (Department of Military Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Government of India) has conveyed its denial to accord Sanction for Prosecution against all the 30 accused,” said the police statement, according to the Hindustan Times newspaper.

Sanction for prosecution from the federal government is required to initiate any proceedings against security forces for their actions if they are discharging their duties under the country’s controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

The colonial-era law gives the armed forces sweeping powers, including the right to shoot on sight and protection from prosecution for soldiers who mistakenly kill civilians.

AFSPA has been in force in Nagaland since it was granted statehood in 1963, as it grappled with insurgency and separatist activities led by several tribal Naga groups that accuse Delhi of plundering their resources.

The groups also have a longstanding demand for a separate homeland for Nagas.

Enforcement of the controversial act was recently extended for six months in some of the state’s districts that were deemed “disturbed areas”.

The denial of the sanction was communicated to the relevant authorities, including to the Mon district and session judge and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was formed by the state government following the incident, said the Nagaland police statement.

A separate Court of Inquiry had also been set up by the army, apart from the state government’s SIT, to investigate the incident.

The SIT had filed its chargesheet in a court in Mon on 30 May 2022 and the police had charged the army personnel last June based on its findings.

The investigators found 21 Para Special Forces had resorted to “disproportionate firing” and failed to follow standard operating procedures while carrying out the operation.

The 30 accused army personnel were charged under various sections of India’s criminal code, including murder, criminal conspiracy and disappearance of evidence.

“The sanction for prosecution is still awaited,” Nagaland’s police chief TJ Longkumer had said last June.

Two days after the incident, federal home minister Amit Shah had reiterated the army’s line of “mistaken identity” in a statement to the country’s parliament.

In May last year, the army’s eastern commander, Lt Gen Rana Pratap Kalita, said the probe by the military’s Court of Inquiry was completed and was being examined.

He had pledged that “action will be taken irrespective of rank” if there was “any lapse or fault by anyone”.

In July 2022, India’s Supreme Court stayed proceedings against the army major who led the operation and 29 members of his team, invoking immunity granted to army personnel under AFSPA.

Nagaland police had named the major in their first information report (FIR), an initial chargesheet filed as the first step in any police investigation in India.

The petitioner, the wife of the army major, had asked for a stay on the chargesheet, citing a lack of sanction of prosecution by the federal government.