The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Assam government and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) response on a plea alleging fake police encounters in the state.
A bench comprising Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Aravind Kumar also issued notice to the Assam Human Rights Commission.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan represented the petitioner.
The petitioner, Advocate Arif Yeasin Jwadder approached the Apex Court after the Gauhati High Court declined to order an independent investigation into encounter killings in Assam. He had sought the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code against police personnel involved in fake encounter killings.
Furthermore, he sought the establishment of Human Rights Courts in Assam, as mandated by Section 30 of the Protection of Human Rights Act. The petitioner alleged that more than 80 police encounters had occurred since May of the previous year, resulting in 28 deaths and 48 injuries in alleged fake encounters. However, the Gauhati High Court dismissed the plea and criticized the petitioner for relying on media reports and making vague assertions, despite being a practicing lawyer.
“It appears that having read some media reports on police actions leading to death/ injury of some accused persons in police custody, the petitioner has rushed to this court by filing the present petition, without properly verifying the complete facts. Under the circumstances, the possibility of the petitioner approaching this Court by way of this petition merely seeking some publicity cannot be entirely ruled out,” the bench noted.
