Guwahati: Gauhati HC directs Dispur to Place Viscera and Post-Mortem Report

Alleged suicide by youth after police brutality

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court today directed the Assam government to place the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report of the viscera of the deceased as well as the final post-mortem report concerned before the court on the next date of listing of the matter. The HC also sought the impleadment of the DGP, Assam, and SP, Jorhat, as party respondents.

The division bench of Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak and Justice Malasri Nandi on Wednesday stated this while hearing a writ petition (W.P.(Crl.)/11/2025) filed by Rimly Gogoi Saikia, the sister of late Dipankar Gogoi, a young youth, who allegedly committed suicide after being unable to withstand police brutality.

The bench opined after going through the petition that the Director General of Police, Assam, as well as the Superintendent of Police, Jorhat, are necessary parties for proper adjudication of the case. As such, the petitioner was instructed to file an appropriate application for their impleadment.

Further, the Home Secretary to the Government of Assam was directed to place the FSL report of the viscera of the deceased as well as the final post-mortem report of the deceased concerned before the Court on the next date of listing of the matter.

The case, in brief, is that the petitioner approached this court seeking a thorough investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into an incident dated December 26, 2023, wherein a youth, late Dipankar Gogoi, allegedly committed suicide after being unable to withstand police brutality, torture and humiliation for four days and the threat of his implication in a false case at the hands of the then superintendent of police of Jorhat. The deceased was taken into custody by police on December 22, 23, 24 and 25 of 2023 and was handed over to his parents after midnight. The deceased was always given a tube of ointment along with the medical examination advice slip when he was handed over to his parents at home.

The deceased every day narrated torture and physical beatings to his ailing aged parents. The deceased was not arrested formally. On the morning of December 26, 2023, when the mother of the deceased didn’t find him in his room, his parents started searching for him. The father of the deceased finally found him hanging from a branch of a tree in a tea garden behind their house. The petitioner had seen that there were several injury marks on the legs, back and stomach on the dead body of the deceased.

An FIR was lodged by Rimly Gogoi Saikia, the sister of the deceased and the petitioner herein, at the Titabar Police Station, which was registered as Titabar PS Case No.132/2023, dated December 27, 2023, u/s 323/506/306 IPC against Mohanlal Meena, the then Superintendent of Police of Jorhat. On September 19, 2024, the investigating officer filed the final report citing Mistake of Fact, even though there was prima facie evidence of third-degree torture and the post-mortem report which clearly showed external injuries which were ante mortem.

The Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Titabar, did not accept the final report and directed the police for re-investigation by appointing a senior rank police officer as investigating officer. However, the police appointed Sivasagar Superintendent of Police as the case investigating officer, flouting and violating the order of the Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate.

A free and fair investigation demands that the investigating officer must be at least a rank senior to the rank of the prime accused and that the investigation be conducted by a different investigating agency. It is unlikely that a junior or a same-rank officer will investigate properly against their seniors or colleagues of the same department. The petitioner and her family do not have faith in the state police, as the investigation in the present case has been conducted poorly and in a lackadaisical manner. It is prayed that the present case be transferred to the CBI for a thorough investigation. Hence, this petition was filed.

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