Relief for Sarma govt, Gauhati HC disposes of plea against it on ‘encounters’

In its judgment on Friday, a division bench of Justices Suman Shyam and Susmita Phukan stated that since police have submitted that there are separate FIRs and inquiries are going on for 171 such cases, it cannot be said that there has been “no action” by the State.

The court noted that an Assam government affidavit on September 29, 2022 stated that 171 “incidents” took place between May 2021 and August 2022 in which 56 people had died — four of them were deaths in police action or custody — and 145 people were injured. It also stated that 171 separate FIRs had been registered in connection with these incidents across 32 districts.

“What would be significant to note is that there has been no attempt on part of the official respondents either to deny the occurrence or to suppress any facts from this Court…. in the affidavit filed by respondent no. 1 [government], it has been clearly mentioned that separate FIRs have been registered in all 171 cases of Police incidents and investigation is going on in all these,” the bench noted. “The learned Advocate General has also assured this court that appropriate action will be taken against all guilty persons, including the erring police officials, after the inquiry process is completed.”

Therefore, the court said in its order, “it cannot be said that no action has been initiated by the State in these cases of police action. Having regard to facts and circumstances of this case, 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.”

Stating that the petitioner did not have relevant documents, including copies of FIRs, “to satisfy himself as to whether there has been any lacunae on part of the department, either in registration of FIR or in conducting proper investigation in the matter”, the bench stated that they find “force” in Attorney General Devajit Saikia’s submission that the PIL is “premature”.

One of the prayers in the petition appealed the court to issue directions to set up human rights courts in Assam. An affidavit submitted by Assam government in August 2022 submitted that 12 such courts have been set up in different districts: Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Nagaon, Tezpur, Dhubri, Silchar, Tinsukia, North Lakhimpur, Mangaldoi, Goalpara, Nalbari and Bongaigaon.

“Nothing has been pointed out to convince this court that there was any reluctance on the part of the State to make these courts functional or that the State was not open to setting up more such human rights courts in future, as and when deemed necessary,” the order stated. “In view of the above, we are of the view that no further direction in this regard is warranted for the present.”