The Assam government assured the Supreme Court that it followed 2014 guidelines on police encounters, while a plea for an independent investigation into 171 incidents awaits a verdict, raising concerns over accountability.
New Delhi: The Assam government informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it has strictly followed the 2014 guidelines for investigating police encounters, warning that excessive scrutiny of security forces could demoralize personnel operating in challenging conditions.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh has reserved its verdict on a plea seeking an independent investigation into 171 alleged extrajudicial police encounters that took place in Assam between May 2021 and August 2022.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Assam government, assured the court that the Supreme Court’s 2014 PUCL v. Maharashtra guidelines were being “followed to the hilt.”
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“All necessary protocols have been followed and safeguards taken. If security personnel are guilty, they must be punished, but if they are not, they should be protected by the state. Unwarranted targeting may demoralize security forces, especially given the challenging conditions in which they operate,”
Mehta stated.
He also questioned the credibility of petitioner Arif Md Yeasin Jwadder, arguing:
“We do not know who this petitioner is or on whose behalf he is seeking investigative details. He assumes that all encounters are fake while sitting in Delhi, yet no FIR has been lodged in these cases.”
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioner, countered the government’s claims, stating that an honest officer should not fear an independent investigation.
“The petitioner is simply requesting an independent investigation by a committee led by a retired judge. It is crucial to ascertain what is happening in Assam, and FIRs must be registered against culpable officers,”
Bhushan argued.
He cited letters from victims’ families and statements from injured individuals, alleging that these encounters were staged.
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On February 4, the Supreme Court clarified that it would not assess the merits of the 171 encounters but would only determine whether its guidelines on extrajudicial killings were followed.
Bhushan further argued that most FIRs in these cases were filed against the victims themselves, contradicting the 2014 guidelines, which mandate registering cases against culpable police officers.
The petitioner is challenging a January 2023 order of the Gauhati High Court, which dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning Assam Police encounters.
The Assam government’s affidavit before the high court confirmed that 171 encounters took place between May 2021 and August 2022, resulting in:
- 56 fatalities, including four custodial deaths
- 145 injuries
On October 22, 2023, the Supreme Court termed the matter “very serious” and sought details of the investigations conducted. In July 2023, it had also requested responses from the Assam government and other concerned parties regarding the plea.
Initially, the petitioner had claimed before the Gauhati High Court that over 80 “fake encounters” had occurred between May 2021 and the filing of the petition, leading to 28 deaths.
The Supreme Court’s final verdict on the matter is now awaited.
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