Gauhati High Court asks Assam govt. to file updated probe report on every encounter case

Altogether 161 encounters took place within 13 months of Himanta Biswa Sarma becoming the Chief Minister

GUWAHATI The Gauhati High Court on Friday directed the Assam government to file the updated investigation report on every police encounter case since May 2021 within six weeks.

The court, hearing a petition filed by Delhi-based lawyer and activist Arif Jwadder, also sought to know if any independent investigation into these cases was being done or had been completed.

Appearing for the petitioner virtually from Delhi, civil rights lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan argued that the police did not follow the law laid down by the Supreme Court in the 2014 case of People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) versus Maharashtra on alleged fake encounters

He pointed out that the Assam government did not follow the Supreme Court’s guidelines on conducting independent probes in all cases of encounters, including those resulting in injuries.

Altogether 161 incidents of police action took place across Assam within 13 months of Himanta Biswa Sarma taking charge as the Chief Minister in May 2021. The government had earlier informed the court that 51 people died and 139 were injured in the encounters till May 21, 2022.

Three more deaths were included when the State government filed an affidavit on June 20, as sought by the High Court.

“We received FIRs in 41 cases and each was against the deceased victim. According to the guidelines in the PUCL cases, there should be separate FIRs by an independent probe team. We received none, indicating there has been no independent investigation,” Mr. Jwadder said.