With a very slim chance of getting the judgment diluted in favour of the armed forces, the Centre engaged Rohatgi to drive home the apprehension of armed forces through a curative petition.He said that in a combat operation against militants and insurgents, who were armed with heavy weapons, Army personnel needed to deal with full force.
The bench said it will look into the matter as the Attorney General said a related case was coming up for hearing on April 18.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear the Centre's curative petition seeking to recall the July 2016 order holding that the Army or the Manipur police can not use excessive force under the provisions of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) or the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act to deal with militants or insurgency.
By its July 8 order, the top court had ruled that army and paramilitary forces can not use excessive and retaliatory force during counter-insurgency operations in Manipur, declared a disturbed area, under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and criminal courts do have jurisdiction over cases of alleged excesses by security forces.
The bench replied that it would go through the curative petition and then take a call on granting an open court hearing.
"The army and Assam Rifles have paid a heavy price for their diligence and sincerity and have lost 928 personnel at the hands of insurgents with 1,463 injured while operating in Manipur from 1990 to 2015", it said.
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The Centre contended that the immediate effect of the July 8 judgment is that it has "hampered" the Army's ability to respond to insurgent and terrorists situations which have far-reaching ramifications for national security and integrity, especially in parts plagued by constant militant and insurgency activities.
"The Indian army has a record of maintaining the highest level of humanity and is not a rogue army".
A curative petition is the last resort for a petitioner for redress of a grievance and has only a 0.1 per cent success rate in the country. "Human rights and respect for the life of a human being are kept at the highest pedestal", the plea said. "This court ought to have taken into account the complexity and the reality of the conduct of military operations and tactics, especially while combating terrorists", the curative petition said.
Pressing for urgency, the law officer maintained that the fetters imposed by the verdict was affecting anti-terror and anti-insurgency operations by the Army, which would bring the morale of the forces down if they were subjected to investigation by police after every incident.
In its curative petition, the government said, "The judicial review of military operations will have damaging consequences for operational effectiveness and may erode the fighting power".
In one order, the Top court had disregarded the protection against action accessible by armed forces persons under AFSPA.
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