Guwahati: Three victims of an alleged fake encounter case have filed a First Information Report (FIR) against four Assam police officers and at least ten other police personnel at a police station in Tinsukia district.
Dipjyoti Neog, Manuj Buragohain, and Biswanath Borgohain, the victims of the alleged encounter, lodged the FIR against then Sadiya police district Superintendent of Police (SP) Mrinal Deka and three other police officers at Dholla Police Station on Thursday. The other officers named in the FIR include Sub-Inspector (UB) Debasis Dekari, Inspector Sim-Singh Timung, and then Tinsukia Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Bibhash Das.
In their FIR, the three victims alleged that SP Mrinal Deka and other police officers staged the encounter on December 23, 2023. Deka is currently posted as Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) at the Guwahati police commissionerate.
The trio claimed they were apprehended by Assam Rifles on the night of December 23, 2023, and were later handed over to a police team led by SP Deka. They added that the SP, along with other officials, had a few drinks with the Assam Rifles officials and then took them in police vehicles through the Hahkhati forest reserve.
The victims alleged that on December 24, around 3 am, the police stopped in the middle of the reserved forest, made them lie down, and shot them in the leg one by one.
The trio filed the FIR a day after they filed an affidavit at the Supreme Court in connection with the fake encounter case. In the affidavit, they narrated a series of incidents that took place on December 23, 2023, the night they were apprehended and claimed to have links with the United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent (ULFA-I).
Supreme Court Takes Note of Allegations
On Tuesday (September 10), the Supreme Court heard a Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the Gauhati High Court’s order disposing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding alleged fake encounters by Assam police.
While hearing the case, Justice Surya Kant reiterated the court’s intention to form a commission and requested names of retired judges from both parties.
Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of the Supreme Court remarked that accused persons losing their lives in the alleged manner is “not good for the rule of law.”
The petitioner in the SLP, Arif Md Yeasin Jwadder, an advocate from Assam, raised the issue of encounters by state police in Assam. He claimed that more than 80 fake encounters took place between Assam police and persons accused in different cases since May 2021, when Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took charge.
The petitioner seeks an inquiry by an independent agency, such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Special Investigation Team (SIT), or a police team from another state.