- NET Web Desk
The Gauhati High Court today directed the Assam government to submit the detailed investigation report on the ‘police encounters’ through an affidavit by November 14, as the state government failed to provide the same in six weeks.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Delhi-based lawyer and activist – Arif Jwadder, the HC on July 29 had given six weeks to submit a thorough report via an affidavit into all of the “police encounters” that have occurred in Assam since May 2021.
According to IANS report, the number of deaths by now has increased to 55.
After Himanta Biswa Sarma took charge as Chief Minister in May 2021, Assam had recorded 161 incidents of police encounters and actions resulting in the death of 51 accused people while 139 others were injured. The Assam government, through an affidavit on June 20, told the High Court that the number of deaths had increased to 54.
Jwadder had sought a thorough High Court-monitored probe into these police encounters by independent agencies including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or any police team of other states.
Assam’s Director General of Police, the Law and Justice Department, the National Human Rights Commission and the Assam Human Rights Commission had been named as respondents in the PIL, filed by Jwadder.
Civil rights lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan and senior lawyer Indira Jaising during their separate appearance for the petitioner, had earlier argued in the High Court that the PIL raised the issue of public importance involving the rule of law in Assam.
“The Assam Police did not follow the law and procedure laid down by the Supreme Court in the 2014 case of People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) versus Maharashtra on alleged fake encounters. The state government also did not follow the Supreme Court’s guidelines on conducting independent inquiries in all the cases of encounters, including those resulting in injuries,” Bhushan had told the High Court during his recent appearance on the PIL.
