New Delhi | The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre and the Ministry of Defence on a plea of the Nagaland government challenging denial of sanction to prosecute 30 Army personnel, who were accused of killing 13 civilians in a botched-up operation to ambush militants in the state in 2021.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, on Monday, took note of the submissions of the state government and issued notices to the Centre and the Union Ministry of Defence.

The bench has now fixed the plea of Nagaland on September 3.

In April last year, the Central government had denied sanction to prosecute the Army men who were allegedly involved in the botched up ambush at Oting in Mon district of the state.

The state government has filed the writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution. A plea under this Article can be filed alleging violation of fundamental rights.

The state, which had filed an FIR, claimed it has clinching evidence against the Army personnel, including a Major, and yet the Centre has arbitrarily denied sanction to prosecute them.

The competent authority in the central government has, without application of mind and going through the entire material collected by the special investigation team of state police during the course of the probe, has denied the sanction to try them.

In July 2022, the top court had stayed prosecution of the Army personnel belonging to a special forces on the pleas from the wives of the accused, who claimed that their husbands were being prosecuted without the state obtaining mandatory sanction for prosecution.