The lives of civilians killed in encounters in AFSPA-enforced areas are equally important and it is the duty of the Centre to ensure prompt inquiry into such deaths or else courts will order independent probes, the Supreme Court said on Friday.

The SC sent out the stern message as it dismissed an application by over 700 serving and retired Army officers who have objected to its July 15, 2017 order directing a CBI probe into 655 encounter deaths in Manipur involving Army, paramilitary forces and police.

Backing the petitioners, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said it was "unfortunate" to see Army officers being forced to move the SC to defend their honour. If a soldier faces an enemy in a troubled area where he has extensive powers under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Centre doesn't want a court order to restrain him from performing his duties, he said.

In insurgency-hit areas, the AFSPA allows soldiers to arrest, use force and even open fire on anyone in contravention of the law.

Advocate Aishwarya Bhatti, who represented the petitioners, said that soldiers operate in challenging conditions. If they are to face an inquiry by the CBI or cops as to why they fired even one round of bullets without provocation, this would demoralise them.

A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and UU Lalit said that it was not possible to give a clean chit to either side at this stage. Considering the fact that the morale of the Army was involved, the top court told the petitioners and the Centre that the CBI inquiry was ordered only in 655 of the 1,528 deaths where allegations of fake encounter stood established by a Commission of Inquiry, judicial inquiry, high court, or the National Human Rights Commission. In some of these cases, the bench added, the state had admitted its excesses and compensated the victims. However, no inquiry was ordered by the Army or the police, the SC observed.

"If a citizen has lost life, should not value for human life even demand at least an enquiry. For 15 years why was no enquiry done. If no action was then taken, it can't be that no action will be taken," the bench said.

Mehta said, "We are not saying human life has no value but the Central government cannot turn its eyes from the fact that our soldiers serve in tough terrains and even they lose their lives. The country cannot afford to demoralize its forces. This is an unusual situation and the Court must offer a solution." The bench replied, "These are issues you [Centre] have to decide. Your agencies have found substance that perhaps these uniformed men did exceed their brief. If this is the conclusion, why hasn't the Government come up with an internal mechanism till date?"