Army seeks info, photos, videos on Dec 4 Nagaland incident from public

Kohima, Dec 20 (IANS) The Army, which is conducting a court of inquiry into the killing of 14 civilians by armed forces personnel due to "mistaken identity" in Nagaland's Mon district on December 4 and 5, on Monday sought any information, photos, videos from the public on the incident.

A defence spokesman said that any person having any information including videos, photos from primary source or any other information in original (not forwarded or not from secondary sources) can share via phone or SMS or WhatsApp messenger at +91 6026930283 or call at Army Exchange Helpline +91 3742388456.

The identity of the informant will be kept confidential on request.

The original documents, audio-visual recordings would be collected from the source after following due legal procedure, the spokesman said.

Various Naga civil society organisations, including the Konyak Union and the Eastern Nagaland Peoples' Organisation (ENPO), had already announced that they would not cooperate with the Army and the paramilitary forces until the justice were delivered to the victims and the guilty security personnel.

The influential Naga Students' Federation (NSF), in a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, demanded a court monitored committee headed by a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge to ensure free and fair probe in an impartial manner.

"The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Nagaland government to probe the December 4 incident would not do justice to the wilful acts of the Indian armed forces under the protection of the repressive AFSPA," the memorandum said.

Meanwhile, the 5-member SIT continued their investigation under the overall supervision of Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Sandeep M. Tamgadge, so as to submit its report within January 4.