Are we being persecuted for doing our duty, they ask the court

Over 300 Army officers on Monday moved the Supreme Court over what they called “persecution” by the court and civilian agencies like the CBI for doing their duty in the insurgency-hit areas of Jammu and Kashmir and north-eastern States.

The petition, filed by senior officers at the level of Commanders, comes shortly after the Supreme Court directed a CBI SIT to file chargesheets, in a time-bound manner, against Army officers involved in the Manipur extra-judicial killings in which innocents were allegedly killed, after being branded as insurgents. The court is monitoring the CBI probe and cases number up to over 1,500.

This petition, filed by Colonel Amit Kumar and several other officers, was mentioned by advocate Aishwarya Bhati before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, who scheduled the case for Monday.

The petition said an “extraordinary circumstance” was prevailing over armed forces personnel fighting in the insurgency-hit areas and the nation’s borders. They are plagued by doubts whether performing their duty to fight enemies would expose them to prosecution and land them in jail.

The petition said the Supreme Court’s orders and the resultant CBI action against Army personnel have made soldiers jittery. The petitioners said officers like them were finding it difficult to answer their men’s questions. “The ongoing situation is demoralising the officers and troops deployed in field areas and fighting in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and north-eastern States.”

It said the “manner in which the ongoing inquiry is being forced to speed up by the court and chargesheets to be filed up in a time-bound manner without following the prescribed procedure as per the CBI manual reflects the extremely vulnerable state for the officers and troops engaged in these operations.” The petition said the “garb of protection of human rights should not be taken as a shield to protect the persons involved in terrorist acts.”

The officers said “the extraordinary circumstances in which their colleagues are being persecuted and prosecuted for carrying out there bona fide duties, without making any distinction or determination with regard to act having been done in good faith, without any criminal intent or mens rea, compelled them to approach the court.”

It submitted that if the Armed Forces are not given the protection they require to engage with their bona fide duties, it would cause “grave peril to our sovereignty and indignity, thereby endangering our very existence as a constitutional sovereign democratic republic.”

“Petitioners believe that sovereignty, security and integrity of the nation is at higher pedestal than even the Constitution of India and is actually the foundation on which we exist, survive, sustain and prosper as a nation,” the petition said.

They said they are all Section Commanders to Commanding Officers of the Section/ Platoon/ Company/ Battalion, leading 10 to 1000 men each.

Face confusion

They said they “are now facing confusion and countering questions from the soldiers under their command, as to whether they are supposed to continue to engage the proxy war and insurgency with their military training, principals, standard operating procedures, operational realities, valour and courage or act and operate as per the yardsticks of peace time operations, law and order issues and Cr.PC.”

The petition said the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) did not give armed forces personnel “blanket protection” but only facilitates a soldier’s functioning and operations in extraordinary circumstances of proxy war, insurgency, armed hostility, ambushes, covert and overt operations.

“The civil police or even the CBI can’t even be expected to be in the knowhow of the complete picture,” the petition said.