Gauhati High Court dismisses pleas seeking CBI or SIT probe into police encounters

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and Interlocutory Application (IA) which sought, among other things, an inquiry in the alleged fake encounters in Assam since May, 2021 either by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or any police team from other states under the supervision of the High Court.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Suman Shyam and Justice Susmita Phukan Khaund closed the PIL and IA filed by an advocate named Arif Md Yeasin Jwadder while observing that the state government has not denied the fact that encounters involving the police have occurred in some parts of Assam, but separate FIRs have been lodged and each incident is being inquired into at the appropriate level. The Bench also took into account the government's submission that action has been already taken against some errant police personnel and that anyone found guilty of breaking the law will not be spared by the government.

The Bench observed: "The petitioner has failed to point out any infirmity in the procedure adopted in any of those proceedings on the basis of the materials brought on record... In the present case, materials available on record goes to show that FIRs have already been registered in respect of all the 171 incidents of police action and investigation is going on… The question of constituting a SIT or handing over the investigation to the CBI would arise only when a proper case is made out on facts to demonstrate that the State Government, in the Home Department or the Police Department, has not taken proper action in the matter or that the respondents are not carrying out proper investigation to punish the guilty by following the due process of law or that, there is some deliberate attempt to shield the culprits. There is no such allegation in the writ petition… Situated thus, we find force in the submission of Mr Saikia, learned AG of Assam, that this PIL is premature".

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