New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said 171 police encounters in Assam from May 2021 to August 2022, is alarming and also a “very serious issue” while seeking details including about the probe conducted in these matters, and added that the human rights commission should use the machinery to find out the truth.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said: "It is a very, very serious issue. One hundred and seven-one incidents are alarming…".
The apex court asked the state to furnish details of these 171 incidents, including who investigated these cases and what was the outcome in these cases. The bench said, "the state has a very troubled past”.
The apex court was hearing a plea against an order passed by the Gauhati High Court in January 2023, dismissing a PIL raising the issue concerning these encounters by Assam Police. The petitioner, before the High Court, had claimed that over 80 "fake encounters" were conducted by Assam Police during May 2021 till the date of filing of the writ petition.
During the hearing today, advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioner Arif Md Yeasin Jwadder, contended before the bench that a large number of encounters had taken place in Assam.
A counsel, representing the Assam government, said the High Court was not keen on entertaining the PIL and termed it premature. At this juncture, the bench said, "Petitions like this can't be brushed aside as premature."
The bench made it clear that it was not an adversarial litigation and it is conscious of the sensitivity of the matter and also about the geographical location of the state.
Bhushan argued that state police were not complying with the guidelines, which were issued in 2014 by the apex court in a judgment on the procedure to be followed in probing police encounter cases. Bhushan emphasised that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Assam Human Rights Commission did not discharge their duties enjoined by law in these cases.
The bench told the counsel, representing the commissions, in civil liberty matters, the Supreme Court expects you to be at the forefront. The bench stressed that once the Human Rights Commission has received a letter or complaint, then it should not wait for the complainant to come to it.
"You use your machinery to find out the truth," said the bench. The apex court emphasised that if there is a mandate, then compliance is needed, and told the state's counsel, "You have to follow the mandate of law."
The apex court was informed that the High Court had noted in its order that separate FIRs have been registered in all these 171 cases. The state government counsel assured the bench that the authorities were complying with the guidelines issued by the apex court in the 2014 verdict.
The counsel said earlier, militancy was a major issue in Assam but now "drugs is the new war in Assam". The bench said that all these are not drug-related issues. The apex court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on November 26.
The High Court had cited an affidavit filed before it by the Assam government which said 171 incidents had taken place from May 2021 till August 2022 in which 56 people died, including four in custody, and 145 were injured.
The apex court, in July last year, had sought a response from the Assam government and others on the plea challenging the High Court order.
