By India Today News Desk: The Nagaland Police on Thursday said the central government has denied permission to prosecute the 30 Army personnel who were accused in the 2021 Nagaland killings. Fifteen people – fourteen civilians and one security personnel – were killed when Army personnel opened fire and the violence that ensued after that on December 5, 2021.

The police said the Department of Military Affairs, the Ministry of Defence and the central government conveyed their denial to give sanction for prosecution against all the 30 accused. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed after the incident had sought sanction to prosecute the security personnel accused in the killings.

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The SIT had completed its investigation in the case on March 24, 2022. The chargesheet in the case was filed in Nagaland’s Mon district and session court on May 30, 2022, pending the receipt of the sanction for prosecution.

The Nagaland Police in a statement said under section 197(2) CrPC and Section 6 of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), prosecution sanction from the government of India is required for initiating any proceedings against security personnel for any actions taken by them while discharging their duties.

The wives of the accused security personnel had approached the Supreme Court for a stay of the proceedings in the case. The Supreme Court, through an interim order on July 19, 2022, stayed any further proceedings in the case.

In June 2022, the Nagaland Police said the Army team did not follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) or rules of engagement for such an operation, leading to the firing. It said disproportionate firing was the cause of the immediate deaths of the civilians.

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