The Assam Police has been in the news for past few days for two reasons. On the one hand, it has cracked some gruesome murder and kidnapping cases in Guwahati, on the other, it did encounters consecutively for two days.
Shah Alam Talukdar, the prime accused in the sensational Ranjit Bora murder case, died in a police encounter. According to the police, a handcuffed Alam fled from custody and was shot dead in his hiding the next day. Similarly, a notorious bike lifter Santosh Jaiswal was shot dead by the police in “retaliatory firing” in Charaideo district.
The police have earned public praise after cracking cases like the sensational Guwahati double murder, where the prime accused Bandana Kalita and two other co-accused were nabbed, and the kidnapping-murder of Biswajit Hazarika in the state capital.
Police action has also been questioned in numerous encounters after the second NDA government was formed in May 2021. The police launched several drives against drugs, militancy and other crimes under new chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, with several reported encounters.
Arif Jwadder, a Delhi-based lawyer and activist from Assam, filed a PIL in the Gauhati High Court (HC) on December 8, 2021, seeking records of police encounters since May 2021 and an independent investigation into the matter by an agency like the CBI or an SIT under the court. The court disposed the PIL in January-end noting that investigation into the alleged ‘fake encounters’ are under way.
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