Over 300 Army officers on Tuesday 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 court is monitoring the CBI probe and cases number up to over 1,500.

Hearing on August 20

The petition, filed by Colonel Amit Kumar and several other officers, was mentioned by advocate Aishwarya Bhati before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, who scheduled the case for August 20.

According to the petition, an “extraordinary circumstance” was prevailing over armed forces personnel fighting in the insurgency-hit areas and the nation’s borders. They are plagued by doubts whether performing their duty to fight enemies would expose them to prosecution and land them in jail.

The petition said the Supreme Court’s orders and the resultant CBI action against Army personnel had made soldiers jittery. The petitioners said officers like them were finding it difficult to answer their men’s questions. “The ongoing situation is demoralising the officers and troops deployed in field areas and fighting in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and north-eastern States.”

It said 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.”

The officers said, “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 ,” compelled them to approach the court.