The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a show-cause notice to the the Ministry of Defence (MoD), asking why it should not recommend ₹5 lakh as relief for the family of a citizen killed in Army firing in Arunachal Pradesh in 2017, an NHRC statement said on Friday.
The “innocent citizen”, Thingtu Ngemu, died in the “indiscriminate firing by the Army unit of 21 Para Special Forces (PSF) during an operation against Naxalites in Nantok circle, Changlang district, Arunachal Pradesh” on the intervening period of June 14-15, 2017, it said.
“The Commission has communicated that the case needs to be treated as special because the Judicial Enquiry Magistrate has held that the PSF personnel are responsible for the death of an innocent citizen. The Commission has also emphasized that if the Defence Ministry pays the relief amount to the victim’s family on the basis of its show cause notice in such cases, it will send positive signals amongst the locals and the credibility of the Armed Forces shall also improve. The response is expected within four weeks,” the NHRC said.
It registered a case on June 29, 2017, based on an intimation by the Changlang Superintendent of Police. Its investigation found that the PSF personnel did not cooperate with the judicial enquiry.
“After considering the relevant evidences, the Judicial enquiry officer found that the Army Unit of 21 Para Special Forces (PSF) of Jorhat had laid ambush within the reachable range of civilian/villagers, without any knowledge of local civil police or villagers, which was undesirable and dangerous for the inhabitants,” the NHRC said.
