Judicial probe ordered after civilian killed in Arunachal in army firing

A 60-year-old resident of Pumao village in the district was killed when a team of army personnel fired at a crowd. Several others, including army personnel, are also stated to have sustained injuries in the incident.

The Arunachal Pradesh government has ordered a judicial inquiry to probe the death of a civilian in firing by the Indian Army in Longding district of the state on Saturday.

A 60-year-old resident of Pumao village in the district was killed when a team of army personnel fired at a crowd. Several others, including army personnel, are also stated to have sustained injuries in the incident.

“A judicial inquiry, to find exact details of what happened, has been ordered. The first class judicial magistrate of Longding has been entrusted to submit the report within 15 days,” RP Upadhyaya, the director general of police, said.

“Army doesn’t share their operation details with us, but as far as we know there is no search operation going on at Pumao village on Sunday,” Upadhyaya added.

Longding is one of the three districts in Arunachal—the other two are Tirap and Changlang—where rebels groups from Nagaland and Assam, like NSCN-IM and United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent (ULFA-I), are active.

The three districts are the only ones in the state where the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, (AFSPA), which gives sweeping powers to the armed forces, is operational.

“Usually, the army informs the local police before conducting any operation. But since Longding is under AFSPA, they are not supposed to inform us,” Upadhyaya said.

According to a statement issued by the army on Saturday night, a search operation was launched on Saturday at Pumao village based on intelligence inputs about the presence of National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) cadres.

“There was a gathering of villagers which started protesting against security forces and resorted to stone pelting. Troops identified suspicious movement and started moving towards a house, which drew two to three bursts of fire on Indian Army party,” the statement said.

“Civilians were told to disperse and to safeguard lives and property controlled retaliation was resorted to by firing eight single shots. In this melee, insurgents managed to escape. However, in this crossfire, it is believed few villagers have got hurt and one villager has expired,” it added.

The statement said many army soldiers were also injured due to “stone pelting by supporters of NSCN-IM”.

However, student bodies and human rights organisations in Arunachal allege the firing took place as a fallout of a meeting between residents of Pumao and the army to discuss reported thrashing of another villager on Friday night by the men in uniform.

According to them, a commotion broke out in the meeting and the army team left it midway. This was followed by stone-pelting by villagers on the army personnel, who fired back in retaliation, killing one villager and injuring others.

The North East Human Rights Organisation (NEHRO) has filed two complaints with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) against the 19th Sikh Regiment of the army for alleged human rights violations.

The All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) has also condemned the incident and termed the army’s action as “barbaric”.