Gauhati High Court registers suo moto PIL over assault by cops

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The spate of recent allegations regarding the Assam Police exceeding its brief in the name of maintaining law and order has now taken a serious turn with the Gauhati High Court registering a suo moto PIL (2/2022) in this connection.

The specific reason for the suo moto PIL was the recent incident wherein some policemen assaulted a motorbike rider named Biki Prasad Gupta at Paltan Bazar here. It may be recalled that apart from Gupta, his pillion-riding wife and child also received minor injuries in the incident.

During the first hearing of the PIL on June 10, Chief Justice (acting) N Kotiswar Singh and Justice LS Jamir directed the respondents – including the Principal Secretary of the Home & Political Department, the Director General of Police (DGP), Assam and the Commissioner of Police, Guwahati – to file their respective affidavits in this regard.

The High Court's intervention came after Supreme Court advocate Manish Goswami wrote to the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court in connection with the assault of Biki Prasad Gupta by the police and requested the latter to register a suo moto case in this regard.

It is pertinent to mention that earlier, after a traffic policeman named Fakhruddin Ahmed along with his colleagues assaulted Biki Prasad Gupta, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had informed the media that he had directed the police to extend an apology to Gupta and his family.

"'After watching the video, I directed the city police department to initiate strict action against the police officials who were involved in this. I also asked them to extend an apology to the person and his family," Sarma had said.

Gupta, who had been arrested by the police, was later released after the Chief Minister's intervention, while policeman Fakhruddin Ahmed was placed under suspension.

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