Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Saturday expressed shock and deep anguish over the police firing in Assam's Darrang district and said "the court needs to act suo motu."
Taking to Twitter, Sibal said "Assam...Barbaric images of brutality seen on social media against those resisting eviction have shaken me. The silence of our government has disheartened me. An enquiry is no answer. The court needs to act suo motu".
Two people were killed and 20 others injured in clashes that broke out between police and people in Gorukhuti village on Thursday. The incident happened when a team of civil administration officials accompanied by police went to the Dhalpur area to clear 'illegal encroachment' there.
Earlier, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also condemned the police action calling it 'state-sponsored fire'. "Assam is on state-sponsored fire. I stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the state- no children of India deserve this," the Congress leader said on Twitter.
Read: Assam rights panel seeks report on police shootings by Nov 1
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday asserted that detailed discussions were held for four months over the eviction drive at Gorukhuti. "The eviction drive was not carried out in a day. It was initiated with an agreed principle that as per the land policy, the landless will be provided with two acres and this was agreed upon by the representatives. Following this, no resistance was expected. However, about 10,000 people surrounded the police, indulged in violence and they were forced to retaliate," the chief minister told reporters.
The Assam police had arrested Bijay Bania, a professional photographer, who was seen hitting a dead man during the firing incident at Gorukhuti. In a video that went viral on social media, the photographer who was hired by the Darrang district administration to document the eviction process was seen desecrating the body of a man who was killed in police firing.
