GUWAHATI: Assam has occupied the third spot in India in regards to deaths in police encounters.
Above Assam, there are only Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh.
According to the data of the union home ministry, Assam had a total of 18 deaths during 2021-2022.
Jammu and Kashmir led the table with 45 deaths followed by Chhattisgarh with 30 deaths.
Among the Northeast states, Assam recorded the highest number of custodial and police encounter deaths between April 2020 and March 2022.
Between April 2020 and March 2022, Assam recorded a total of 41 custodial deaths 22 deaths in police encounters.
Notably, the Gauhati high court has sought details of probe done into the cases related to the police encounters in Assam.
The Gauhati high court has sought details of investigations into the police encounter cases that took place in Assam since May last year.
The Gauhati high court has directed the Assam government to submit a report on whether guidelines issued by the Supreme Court for investigation into encounter cases have been followed.
The state has been given a timeline of 60 days to file its report on the matter.
“The State shall bring on record appropriate materials indicating the progress made in each of the case and further indicate whether the guidelines issued by the Apex Court in the case of People’s Union for Civil Liberties and another Vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors., reported in (2014) 10 SCC 635 are followed in later and spirit or not,” the Gauhati high court stated.