The houses were demolished in an eviction drive after a police station was set on fire. A fish trader was allegedly killed in police custody on May 20, 2022. His family had accused the police of demanding a bribe to release him.

By The Wire Staff

New Delhi: The Assam government has approved the compensation for those whose houses were demolished by the police in Nagaon in 2022, Scroll.in has reported. 

The houses were demolished in an eviction drive after a police station was set on fire. According to the Scroll story, a fish trader, Safikul Islam, was allegedly killed in police custody on May 20, 2022. His family had accused police of demanding Rs 10,000 and a duck in bribe for releasing him.

A day after Islam’s death, a mob torched the police station. After the police station was burnt down, the police demolished the houses of the accused men.

Now the state home department has decided to pay Rs 10 lakh for each pucca demolished house and Rs 2.5 lakh for the kutcha houses. This has been communicated to Dipankar Nath, a senior government advocate for Assam.

“An online sanction proposal for concurrence has been moved to the finance department on 30/04/2024,” Scroll quoted the home department as saying.

This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.