PIL To Probe 'Fake' Encounters | 'Investigation Against Officers Would Demoralise Them', Says Assam Police; Supreme Court Reserves Judgment

The Supreme Court today reserved orders on a plea alleging rampant "fake" encounters in Assam as well as non-compliance by state authorities with the directions issued in PUCL v. State of Maharashtra (pertaining to investigation of police encounters).A bench of Justices Kant and N Kotiswar Singh heard the matter.Briefly put, the petition before the Supreme Court impugned a Gauhati High Court order, whereby the petitioner's PIL raising the same issue was dismissed, as the High Court was of the view that no separate probe into the alleged incidents was required because state authorities were conducting investigation in each case.Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for the petitioner and argued that in Assam, there has been rampant violation over the past few years with the guidelines laid down in PUCL v. State of Maharashtra, where the top Court directed inter-alia:"(3) An independent investigation into the incident/encounter shall be conducted by the CID or police team of another police station under the supervision of a senior officer (at least a level above the head of the police party engaged in the encounter)... (4) A Magisterial inquiry under Section 176 of the Code must invariably be held in all cases of death which occur in the course of police firing and a report thereof must be sent to Judicial Magistrate having jurisdiction under Section 190 of the Code."He pointed out that in the PUCL judgment, the guidelines were also made applicable to grievous injury cases in police encounters "as far as possible" and argued that the intent behind the PUCL guidelines was that an FIR be registered and independent investigation conducted on the premise that the accused police officials may have done something wrong. However in many Assam cases, FIRs were registered against the victims, Bhushan said.He further mentioned that when the matter was pending before the High Court, apart from death cases, there were as many as 135 encounter cases involving bullet injuries. Assailing the fact that there has not been an independent investigation into the allegations, Bhushan informed that the National Human Rights Commission forwarded the matter to Assam Human Rights Commission and the AHRC refused to got into it as the matter was pending before High Court.Subsequently, he cited specific incidents through affidavits filed by alleged victims of encounters and proposed setting up of an independent investigating committee headed by a retired judge to give a preliminary report. In the context of Tinsukia encounter case, when he referred to bullet injuries received by one of the victims, Justice Kant enquired if there was any medical report qua the bullet injury. In reply, Bhushan informed that the bullet injury was admitted, however, the case of the state authorities was that the person was trying to run away and therefore he was shot (to subdue him).Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on the other hand, asserted that the PUCL guidelines were binding and stood complied to the teeth. Questioning the motives behind filing of the present petition, he claimed that an investigation as sought by the petitioner would demoralize the security personnel, who put their lives at stake to safeguard the nation from terrorist attacks and militancy (which are more rampant in Assam).The SG alleged that without giving any facts, and based only on judicial precedents, the petitioner filed the petition seeking inter-alia directions for registration of FIRs in 'fake' encounter cases against police personnel. "Sitting in Saket Courts in Delhi, he declares the encounters to be fake encounters...he presumes there is no FIR...only police is [sought] to be targeted by the Court's direction" the SG emphasized.Referring to certain data, he mentioned that between 1991-2024, 412 Assam police personnel and 449 central personnel were martyred because of terrorist activities. To showcase the difficulties faced by the personnel, the SG further pointed out the number of terrorists who have surrendered over the past few years and the kind of weapons recovered from militants. "We have a public spirited man telling the High Court that all encounters are fake encounters and demoralize the police by directing an investigation", he commented.Further, the SG disputed Bhushan's contention that the idea behind PUCL guidelines is that police officials are to be arrayed as accused. It is the alleged incident that is to be investigated, he asserted. "It nowhere says that whenever there is a clash between the terrorist/criminal gang and the police, the police will have to be necessarily be an accused. If that is the law, nobody will be able to protect the citizens of this country. If I as a police officer feel that if I fire a bullet, then I will be the accused next day, I will choose not to fire the bullet. And that probably is the purpose of this petition!", the SG exclaimed.Concurring with the SG that the PUCL guidelines require investigation of the "incident" and not...

PIL To Probe 'Fake' Encounters | 'Investigation Against Officers Would Demoralise Them', Says Assam Police; Supreme Court Reserves Judgment

Debby Jain

"Why will an investigation demoralize any honest officer who has done his job honestly?" The petitioner asked.

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