The villagers of Oting in Nagaland’s Mon district, as well as the relatives of the 14 individuals slaughtered by security forces, have refused to accept any government compensation unless the personnel responsible are brought to justice. The Oting Village Council stated in a statement that state minister P Paiwang Konyak and the district’s deputy commissioner gave Rs 18.30 lakh on December 5 when the villagers were engaged with burial arrangements and other activities in the aftermath of the deaths.
They initially mistook it for a symbol of affection and present from the minister, but subsequently discovered it was an instalment of the state government’s ex gratia for the relatives of those deceased and injured, according to the report.
Subsequently, residents of Mon have sought an apology from Home Minister Amit Shah for his “false” and “fabricated” comments on the tragedy in Parliament this week during large protests today. Protesters set fire to an effigy of the Home Minister to express their outrage – both at Mr Shah and his reportedly erroneous comments, as well as at the central government for continuing to impose AFSPA, or the Special Forces Act, which they worry would be used to hide the guilty.
The protesters were led by the Konyak Union, an apex body of tribes that has demanded an immediate apology from Amit Shah and the removal of his statement from the Parliament’s records. They included residents from the village of Oting, which is home to 12 of the 14 killed.
