Gauhati HC Asks Assam Govt to File Updated Report on 'Police Encounters'

The Gauhati High Court on Friday directed the Assam government to file the updated investigation report on every police encounter case since May 2021 within six weeks.

The government has been asked to submit a detailed report in this regard by September 29.

Appearing for the petitioner virtually from Delhi, lawyer Prashant Bhushan pointed out that the Assam government did not follow the Supreme Court’s guidelines on conducting independent probes in all cases of encounters.

While hearing a petition filed by Delhi-based lawyer Arif Jwadder, the high court also sought to know if any independent investigation into these cases was being done or had been completed.

Notably, a total of 161 encounters took place across the state within 13 months after Himanta Biswa Sarma took charge as the Chief Minister in May 2021.

The Assam government had earlier submitted before the court that 51 people died and 139 were injured in the encounters till May 21, 2022. Three more deaths were included when the State government filed an affidavit on June 20, as sought by the High Court.

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