As fake encounter allegations swirl, Gauhati High Court asks for bodies of 3 Hmar ‘militants’ to be preserved

Assam police claim the three were militants, who they had apprehended the previous day. Police claim the men accompanied them to a “special operation” against other militants, during which they died in the crossfire.

The families of the three have approached the High Court, demanding that their post-mortem be conducted by doctors from outside Assam.

On Friday, Advocate General of Assam Devajit Saikia handed the post-mortem report from the Silchar Medical College and Hospital to the High Court Bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Soumitra Saikia in a sealed cover.

However, the court observed that the final opinion on the cause of death was absent, since the receipt of a viscera report from the Directorate of Forensic Science is awaited.

Because of this omission, the court directed that the state file their affidavit-in-opposition before the next listing on August 2 with a copy of the final post-mortem report. Advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the petitioners, told the court that they want the post-mortem to be done by “independent doctors, possibly from Mizoram because it is close-by”, and for the case to be investigated by the CBI.

Advocate General Saikia argued against involving doctors from Mizoram.

“Let the bodies be taken out. Because everything (the post-mortem) was videographed. So let the bodies be taken out and cremated with due honour. And why are they specifically asking Mizoram (doctors) to come? Lordship knows the background of the violence in Manipur. In Assam, we have a substantial number of Manipuri people in Barak Valley. 30% belong to one community, religious community. Other 70% belong to the other religious community. I am not taking anybody’s name. There is constant endeavour for the last one and a half years… They want to expand that violence to the state of Assam, and Assam police is very strongly objecting to this… Now, at the instance of some external forces, they are trying to defame Assam police,” he stated.

Cachar borders Manipur’s Jiribam district, which has been on the boil since last month, and the Hmar community is part of the Kuki-Zo ethnic group which is in conflict with Meiteis in the state. The conflict has led to many shifting to Cachar. There is also a sizeable Hmar population in Mizoram.

Gonsalvez argued that the petitioners did not insist on an independent post-mortem conducted specifically by doctors from Mizoram, and was open to it being conducted by doctors from elsewhere.

The court said it would wait till the final post-mortem report to take a decision on the removal of the bodies from the morgue. “If the report comes later and we are dissatisfied, we will not have the bodies. So for three days, we will have to preserve it,” said Justice Surana.

Gonsalvez also pointed to three videos submitted by the petitioners to the court, which purportedly show the men in police custody. The Indian Express had earlier reported on one of these videos, which show them being apprehended from an autorickshaw.

“These three videos show these boys in the custody of the Assam police. Taken in an auto with their hands tied, taken in a somewhat jungle area, and ultimately the bodies are found in some area with bullet holes and so on. In the custody of the police, videographed. So now this is the case, where no matter what they may say orally, they will find it very difficult to put up a case of exchange of fire and genuine encounter… We are asking, our main prayer is that the CBI should take up the investigation immediately. And we are asking that six police officers whose faces can be identified in those videos be arrested,” said Gonsalvez.

Advocate General Saikia pointed to a 2019 FIR which had been registered against one of the men by Cachar police for the possession of arms and ammunition to point to the influence of “external factors”.