Families of 3 killed in Assam claim encounter fake: Report

The families of the three who were killed in Assam on July 17 have raised questions about the circumstances of their death, saying that a video purportedly shows them being apprehended a day before, from an autorickshaw, The Indian Express reported.

The incident took place at Cachar, which borders Manipur's Jirbham, where things have been on the boil. The Hmar community, to which these three men belonged, is part of the Kuki-Zo group which has been in conflict with Meiteis. Cachar has a notable Hmar population and many Kuki-Zo people including Hmars who had to leave Jirbham currently reside there.

The publication reported that the video showed the men were seen being moved out of the autorickshaw by the cops. The video purportedly shows one of them leaving a brown bag on the vehicle's seat while exiting, and when the others step out the police check the bag. The clip then reportedly shows the police stepping away and rummaging through the bag when one of the cops start shouting there is a pistol in it. However, no weapon is pulled out of the bag in this video, IE said.

The police said that they had seized an AK-47 rifle, a single-barrel rifle, and a pistol with ammo from the three apprehended men.

Meanwhile, the families of the men reportedly said they were not aware why the three were in Cachar. One said their kin - Joshua - had been away from home since June 10 after he was called to be a 'village volunteer' when violence broke out in Jirbham.

Lallungawi - another killed - apparently left the village to visit Mizoram, IE reported his uncle say.

"They are wearing civilian clothes in the video. No weapon can be seen. There is something very wrong with the series of events the police have given. We think this was a fake encounter and the police have broken the law. We have not taken the bodies from the morgue and we will not take them till there is justice," he said.

Challenging Assam police's claim of an ambush leading to the killing of three suspected militants belonging to the Hmar community on Wednesday, three organisations representing the Hmar-Zomi-Kuki communities on Thursday have also demanded an urgent and impartial investigation into the circumstances of the killing.