By PTI
GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court on Thursday directed a petitioner, who filed a PIL against police encounters in Assam, to submit a response to the state government affidavit that said due process of law and all guidelines of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) were followed in such incidents.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Soumitra Saikia asked the petitioner to file the response within 10 days and said the matter will be heard again on February 21.
The court had on January 11 asked the state government to file a detailed affidavit on the police encounters that have been taking place since the BJP returned to power in May last year.
The government had on February 7 submitted the affidavit.
“The opposition party sought time to file an affidavit in reply to our affidavit. The Court accordingly granted them time and fixed February 21 as the next date (of hearing),” Assam Advocate General Devajit Lon Saikia told PTI.
In the affidavit, the government said that due process of law and all guidelines issued by the NHRC were followed in all cases of police encounters.
It also informed the court that 28 people were killed and 73 others were injured in police actions from May 10, 2021, when Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma assumed charge, to January 28 this year.
According to the affidavit, the incidents of police firing took place in 27 districts and the highest number of 10 people were killed in Karbi Anglong district.
Guwahati city recorded the maximum number of injuries at nine.
Besides the Assam government, state police DGP, law and justice department, National Human Rights Commission and Assam Human Rights Commission have been named as respondents in the PIL filed by advocate Arif Md Yeasin Jwadder.
The petitioner sought an enquiry into the encounters by an independent agency such as CBI, SIT or any police team from other states under the supervision of the court.
He has also sought a judicial enquiry by a sitting Judge of the Gauhati High Court in the incidents and monetary compensation to the victims’ families after due verification.
The people killed or injured were not dreaded criminals and the modus operandi of the police had been the same in all the encounters, the PIL claimed.
The petitioner doubted the police statement published in newspapers which said that the force had to retaliate in self-defence as the accused had tried to snatch service revolvers of the personnel.
According to the petitioner, the injured or dead persons were not militants, and it cannot be the case that all the accused could snatch a service revolver from a trained police officer.
Earlier, Jwadder had filed a complaint about the alleged fake encounters with the National Human Rights Commission in July last year.
The NHRC in November 2021 transferred the case to the Assam Human Rights Commission which had also taken suo motu action on the alleged fake encounters and asked for a report from the state government.
