Guwahati: A special leave petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Gauhati High Court on alleged fake encounters in Assam.
New Delhi-based advocate Arif Jwadder has moved the apex court after Gauhati High Court on January 27 disposed of a PIL see seeking an independent probe into the alleged fake encounters which took place in Assam from May 2021 onwards.
The petition has been filed through renowned public interest lawyer & civil rights activist Prashant Bhushan.
The Gauhati High Court had disposed off the PIL stating that investigations into all such cases are underway.
Advocate Jwadder in his petition filed in December 2021 sought independent investigation into all the fake encounters which took place from May 2021 onwards by an SIT/CBI or other independent agency to be monitored by the Gauhati High Court.
He had alleged that the Supreme Court guidelines for investigating cases of death or injury in police action were not followed by the Assam police while probing such incidents in the state.
He had termed all such incidents as fake encounters in his petition.
Jwadder had alleged that those killed or injured were “not dreaded criminals”, and that there was no proper inquiry.
Assam government in its affidavit dated 29.09.2022 had admitted to 171 police encounters wherein 56 people died and 145 were injured from May to August 2022. The death toll has increased since then.
However, the high court didn’t give any cogent directions despite the material placed on record.