A view of the SC
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday termed "very serious" the issue pertaining to 171 police encounters in Assam from May 2021 to August 2022 and sought details, including about the probe conducted in these matters.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan was hearing a plea challenging a January 2023 order of the Gauhati High Court which had dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) raising the issue concerning these encounters by Assam Police.
In its order, the high court had referred to 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.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the apex court observed, "It is a very, very serious issue. 171 incidents are alarming." When the counsel appearing for Assam said the high court was not inclined to entertain the PIL and termed it premature, the bench observed, "Petitions like this can't be brushed aside as premature."
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Arif Md Yeasin Jwadder, argued that a large number of encounters had taken place in Assam and the state police was not complying with the guidelines issued by the apex court in its 2014 judgement on procedure to be followed in probing police encounter cases.
He argued that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Assam Human Rights Commission did not discharge their duties enjoined by law in these cases.
"In civil liberty matters, the Supreme Court expects you to be at the forefront," the bench told the counsel appearing for the commissions.
"Once they (human rights commission) have received a letter or complaint, don't wait for the complainant to come to you. You use your machinery to find out the truth," the bench said.
Observing that it was not an adversarial litigation, the top court said it was conscious of the sensitivity of the matter and also about the geographical location of the state.
"But at the same time, if there is a mandate, then compliance is needed," it told the state's counsel, adding, "You have to follow the mandate of law." It asked the state to furnish details of these 171 incidents, including who investigated these cases and what was their outcome.
"The state has a very troubled past," the bench observed during the hearing.
The state's counsel said the high court had noted in its order that separate FIRs have been registered in all these 171 cases.
He said the state 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".
"All these are not drugs-related issue," the bench observed.
It posted the matter for further hearing on November 26.
In July last year, the apex court had sought responses from the Assam government and others on the plea challenging the high court order.
The petitioner had claimed before the high court that over 80 "fake encounters" were conducted by Assam Police during May 2021 till the date of filing of the writ petition, resulting in 28 deaths.
He had claimed that people, who have been killed or injured, were not dreaded criminals.
He had also sought an independent investigation by CBI, SIT or a police team from other states under the court's supervision against the police personnel concerned.