· Over 300 Army officers moved the Supreme Court against 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 the northeastern States.
· The petition, filed by senior officers at the level of Commanders, comes shortly after the 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 army Officers are pleading innocence because of the extraordinary circumstances in which their colleagues are being persecuted and prosecuted for carrying out their 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.
· The Supreme Court’s orders and the resultant CBI action against Army personnel had made soldiers jittery and officers like them were finding it difficult to answer their men’s questions which demoralising the officers and troops deployed in these areas.
· The manner in which the ongoing inquiry is being forced to be speeded up by the court and chargesheets directed to be filed in a time-bound manner without following the prescribed procedure as per the CBI manual, reflected the extremely vulnerable state for the officers and troops engaged in these operations.
Source : The Hindu