The Supreme Court heard the petition on Tuesday (February 4, 2025), in which 171 police encounters in Assam have been questioned between May 2021 and August 2022. The petition has demanded an inquiry into the encounters. On this, the court said that investigation of each encounter is not possible. The court said that it can only see whether his guidelines were followed or not, which he had given in the PUCL vs Maharashtra government case.
A bench of Justices Suryakant and Justice N. Kotishwar Singh told Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing on behalf of the petitioner Arif Mohammad Yasin Jawadar that it is not possible for the court to investigate every encounter for the court. Prashant Bhushan, citing letters written by the victim’s families and the injured, said that this figure is very shocking. The petitioner alleges that out of 171 encounters between 2021 and 2022, 80 were fake, in which 28 people lost their lives. It said that there were no dreaded criminals who died and the functioning of the police in all the encounters was the same. The petitioner has demanded an inquiry under the supervision of an independent agency like CBI, SIT, CID or any other police station in the case.
Prashant Bhushan said that in the 2014 PUCL vs. Maharashtra case, the guidelines prescribed by the Supreme Court have been severely violated. He said that this can be seen from the statements made by the injured and the families of the deceased. He said that most of the FIRs registered in these cases of encounter are against the victims, while according to the guidelines of the Supreme Court, the case should be registered against the policemen involved in them.
While favoring the Assam government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that he needs to look at the content and claims given in the petition. Questioning the authenticity and purpose of the petition, SG Tushar Mehta said that the guidelines of the court are being followed. The bench adjourned the hearing of the case for next week. The Supreme Court was hearing a petition to challenge the January 2023 order of the Guwahati High Court, in which a public interest litigation filed in relation to these encounters made by the Assam Police was rejected.
The High Court in its order cited an affidavit filed before him by the Assam government stating that 171 incidents took place from May 2021 to August 2022, in which 56 people including four prisoners were killed and 145 were injured. . On 22 October last year, the Supreme Court had summoned detailed information including the investigation of these cases, calling the issue related to the 171 encounters made by the Assam Police from May 2021 to August 2022. In July 2023, the Supreme Court sought a response from the Government of Assam and others on the petition to challenge the High Court order.
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