New Delhi, Feb 4: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it couldn’t go into the merit of the alleged 171 police encounters in Assam from May, 2021 to August, 2022 but only see whether its guidelines on such extra-judicial killings were duly followed.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh told advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Arif Md Yeasin Jwadder that it was not possible for the court to go into each and every encounter.
Bhushan referred to the letters written by family members of the victims or those injured in these encounters and said the number was shocking.
“The guidelines laid down for these encounters in the PUCL versus Maharashtra case (2014 case) by this court were grossly violated. It can be seen from the statements given by the injured and the family members of the deceased,” said Bhushan.
He said most of the FIRs lodged in these encounter cases were against the victims while guidelines of the apex court says the case should be registered against the policemen involved.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing Assam, submitted he needed to look into the material and the averments made in the petition.
Questioning the bonafide and motive of the petition, Mehta said the guidelines of the court were being followed in true letter and spirit. The bench posted the matter next week.
The top court was hearing a plea challenging a January 2023 order of the Gauhati High Court which dismissed a PIL over the encounters by Assam Police.
In its order, the high court referred to an affidavit filed before it by the Assam government which said 171 incidents took place from May 2021 till August 2022 in which 56 people died, including four in custody, and 145 were injured.
On October 22, last year, the top court called the issue pertaining to 171 police encounters in Assam “very serious” and sought details, including on the probe conducted in these matters.
In July, 2023, the apex court sought responses from the Assam government and others on the plea challenging the high court order.
The petitioner claimed before the high court that over 80 “fake encounters” were conducted by Assam Police from May, 2021 till the filing of the writ petition, resulting in 28 deaths.
He claimed people, who were killed or injured, were not dreaded criminals.
The plea sought an independent investigation by CBI, SIT or a police team from other states under the court’s supervision against the police personnel concerned.
In 2014, the top court laid down guidelines to ensure transparency, accountability and proper investigation in cases of police encounters. (PTI)
