Case Of Mistaken Identity, Government Monitoring Situation Closely: What Home Minister Amit Shah Said In Parliament About The Nagaland Incident

Home Minister Amit Shah made a statement on the floor of the Lok Sabha on the Nagaland incident, at around 3 pm today (6 December).

Fourteen civilians had died and 11 more were injured after being fired upon by security forces in Nagaland's Mon district in three consecutive incidents of firing on Sunday (5 December).

Speaking about the incident, the Home Minister said, that "the Army had received information about movement of extremists in Mon [district in Nagaland]. On that basis, 21 commandos laid an ambush in the suspected area. A vehicle reached there, it was signalled to stop but it tried to flee. On suspicion of the vehicle carrying extremists, it was fired upon".

The Home Minister added that "six out of the eight people in the vehicle died. Later, it was found to be a case of mistaken identity.

"The two injured were taken to nearest health centre by Army. After receiving news of this, local villagers surrounded the Army unit, set 2 vehicles on fire and attacked them.

"As a result," said Shah, "one jawan of the security forces died; and many other jawans were injured. The security forces had to resort to firing for self-defence and to disperse the crowd which caused the death of seven more civilians and injured others. The local administration and police tried to bring the situation to normalcy. Currently, the situation is tense but under control."

A Special Investigation Team has been formed to probe the incident and it has been ordered to complete its investigation within a month, informed the Home Minister.

As per ANI, the Home Minister, speaking in the Lok Sabha said that "after the incident, on 5 December evening, an agitated crowd of around 250 people vandalised the company operating base (COB) of Assam Rifles in Mon city and set the COB building on fire. Assam Rifles had to fire bullets to disperse the crowd. This caused death of one more civilian."

Going on to discuss the response of the state and central administration, the Home Minister, as per ANI, said that: "In a bid to avert any more incidents in the affected area, additional forces have been deployed. A press statement has been issued by Army's III Corps HQ where the incident of the unfortunate deaths of innocent civilians has been deeply regretted."

Shah added that "the Army has taken up investigation into the reasons behind this incident at the highest level" and that "action will be taken as per the law".

He said that he had "immediately contacted the Governor and CM of the state after receiving the news of the incident" and that the MHA had also contacted the Chief Secretary and DGP of Nagaland.

The situation was monitored yesterday, said Shah and added that the MHA immediately sent Additional Secretary in-charge of the northeast to Kohima where he held a meeting with the Chief Secretary, other senior officials and senior officials of the paramilitary forces today and the entire situation was reviewed in detail.

"It has been decided" said Shah, "that all agencies should ensure that such unfortunate incidents do not take place again in the future while taking up such drives. The government is monitoring the incident minutely and necessary remedial measures are being taken to ensure peace in the area."

The government of India deeply regrets this incident and expresses its sympathies with the families of the deceased, he concluded.