Nagaland firing: FIR states Army men fired with 'intention to murder'

The Nagaland police on Monday (December 6) filed an FIR naming the 21 Para Special forces of the Army for opening fire on villagers along the Assam border on Saturday which claimed 14 lives.

The police accused the Armed forces of deliberately firing at innocent Oting villagers with an “intention to murder and injure civilians”.

The FIR stated that there was no police personnel present at the spot where the security forces executed the operation to ambush insurgents nor did the Army make requisition to police station to provide police guide for their operation. “Hence it is obvious that the intention of security forces is to murder and injure civilians,” the FIR stated.

Meanwhile, the Nagaland government has announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh each to the families of the 14 people killed in firing by security forces in Nagaland’s Mon district on Saturday evening.

While Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio is slated to visit the district on Monday (December 6), the state government has also decided to set up a High Level Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by an IGP level officer to probe the incident.

Meanwhile, a murder case has been filed in the case.

On Saturday, 13 villagers and a soldier were killed after an anti-insurgency operation went wrong in Oting village in Mon district. Another villager died when a mob attacked the Assam Rifles camp in retaliation to the killings. Around 11 people were injured in the firing which is being dubbed as a case of mistaken identity.

Condemning the incident in a statement, Nagaland Chief Secretary J Alam has said that the state government will bear the cost of medical treatment of the injured persons.

A five-member delegation of Trinamool Congress is also slated to visit Nagaland on Monday to meet the families of the deceased persons. The team will have MPs Prasun Banerjee, Sushmita Dev, Aparupa Poddar and Santanu Sen and party spokesperson Biswajit Deb.

Senior minister P Paiwang Konyak led a team of officers including the director general of police reached Oting village to monitor the situation, Alam said. He said two state government helicopters were pressed into service for emergency relief operations and four injured persons were airlifted from Mon to Dimapur for further medical treatment. Health and Family Welfare Minister S Pangyu Phom also visited the injured at the Referral Hospital, Dimapur. Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton who was in New Delhi rushed back and went to Mon directly from Guwahati, Alam said.

Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio will be visiting Mon on Monday morning accompanied by his cabinet colleagues and senior government officers to take an on the spot assessment of the situation and pay respect to the deceased, he said. “Rio will interact with state government functionaries and civil society organisation leaders in Mon. The state government once again assures people that no stone will be left unturned to ensure that justice prevails and appropriate actions as per the law of the land are taken,” said Alam.

(With inputs from agencies)