Shillong/Kohima, Sep 23 : The influential North East Students' Organisation (NESO) on Monday said that the organisation is deeply disturbed over the recent ruling by the Supreme Court regarding the Oting massacre.

The NESO, an apex body of eight students' organisations representing seven NE states, said that despite overwhelming evidence unearthed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), the Supreme Court, on September 17 reportedly closed criminal proceedings against the 'accused military personnel'.

NESO chairman Samuel Jyrwa and Secretary General Mutsikhoyo Yhobu in a joint statement said that the tragic incident that occurred on December 4, 2021, in Mon district of Nagaland, saw the brutal killing of 14 innocent civilians by personnel of the 21 Para (SF), a unit of the Indian Army.

'This decision is an outright denial of justice to the victims and their families, who have been waiting for accountability. The SIT, formed by the Nagaland government, conducted a thorough investigation, showing overwhelming evidence that implicated 30 personnel of the 21 Para (SF), including senior officers, in the Oting killings. The charge sheet was submitted to the District and Sessions Court of Mon, yet the Union Government has refused to sanction their prosecution,' the NESO leaders said.

They said that this lack of accountability undermines the legal process and mocks the rule of law, particularly in the sensitive region of the northeast, where historical injustices have left deep scars.

'The Supreme Court's ruling only compounds the sense of alienation felt by the people of the northeast region, especially as the court itself acknowledged that the case could proceed if the Union Government grants prosecution sanction,' the NESO statement said.

It said that this bureaucratic impasse sends a dangerous signal - that the lives of civilians, especially those from the marginalised and often overlooked northeast, are dispensable under the draconian cover of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

Demanding the repeal of AFSPA, the NESO said that the law continues to perpetuate violence, impunity, and gross human rights violations across the northeast.

'The Oting massacre is yet another tragic reminder of how AFSPA enables such heinous acts to occur with little to no accountability,' the apex student body said and demanded that the Union government immediately sanction the prosecution of the 21 Para (SF) personnel involved in the Oting massacre and deliver justice to the victims and their families.

'If the AFSPA is not completely repealed in the northeast, it would only deepen the cycle of mistrust and violence in the region,' the NESO said, adding that such law has no place in a democracy.

On September 17, a Supreme Court bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P.B. Varale directed the closure of the FIR and consequent criminal proceedings initiated by the Nagaland government against members of the Indian Army operational team in connection with the killing of 14 civilians in the state's Mon district in December 2021.

The apex court allowed the writ petitions filed by the wives of officers for quashing of suo moto FIR registered against the personnel of 21 Para (Special Force).

The apex court noted that the sanction under Section 6 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 was rejected by the competent authority in February last year. Section 6 provides that no prosecution, suit or other legal proceedings can be instituted against any person in respect of anything done under the AFSPA except with the previous sanction of the Union government.

Almost all Naga organisations including the Eastern Nagaland People's Organisation, the All Naga Students' Association, and the United Naga Council organised a series of agitations against the killings and demanded punishment for the 21 Para (Special Force) personnel.

/IANS