New Delhi: Operations against terrorists or insurgents may be affected if FIRs are lodged against the Army, the Supreme Court was told on Thursday.
"In every military operation, Army cannot be disbelieved. Every judicial inquiry cannot be against the Army. The alleged extra-judicial killing cases in Manipur are not cases of massacre, rather these are cases of military operations,"
he said.
He said the petitions under Article 32 of Associations of Widows from Manipur, seeking FIR into alleged extra-judicial killings and SIT probe, should not be considered and the court should not embark into it.
The court then asked the Manipur counsel whether now the state government can register FIRs into these alleged cases of extra-judicial killings.
The bench asked the parties including the Centre and Manipur to suggest five names each of officials, ex-officials whom they fit are suitable for Special Investigating Team (SIT) to be constituted to investigate such cases.
The court, which has conducted hearing for three consecutive days, had earlier rapped Manipur for remaining silent over rape and murder charges against Army personnel.
The bench said three such cases in which the Commissions of Inquiry had given its findings, including that of Thangjam Manorama, a Manipuri woman who was allegedly killed in the custody of the Assam Rifles on July 10, 2004, after being picked up on suspicion of working for the insurgent outfit, People Liberation Army.
The Army had yesterday told the court that the judicial probes conducted into alleged extra-judicial killing charges were "biased" and slanted against them due to local factors.
The apex court had earlier asked the Centre to segregate the cases related to the armed forces from the list of 265 incidents of extra-judicial killings in Manipur. The Centre had said that out of the 282 cases, which were referred to it for verification, 70 matters were found to be related to the Army and Assam Rifles, while the rest concerned the state police.
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