'Police Encounters Were Done To Create Fear'

On May 28, the Supreme Court of India directed Assam's human rights commission to conduct an independent probe into 171 police encounters.

The apex court intervened after a petition was filed on the encounters that took place between May 2021 and August 2022 that resulted in 56 deaths.

The petition was filed by human rights activist and advocate Arif Md Yeasin Jwadder in the Supreme Court. Justices Surya Kant and N Kotishwar Singh ordered the Assam Human Rights Commission to probe the police encounters.

Jwadder has been consistently pursuing the case against the Assam police for the 171 police encounters carried out from July 2021.

He has alleged that innocent citizens with no criminal antecedents were being killed in these police encounters.

"There were 171 police encounters but not a single policeman or officer got hurt," Jwadder tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.

The Supreme Court asked the Assam Human Rights Commission to inquire into 171 encounters carried out by the state police in 2021.
How come nobody knows about these encounters?

There is a technicality here. When I first lodged the PIL (public interest litigation in the Gauhati high court the government of Assam filed three affidavits. According to that affidavit the period when 171 police encounters happened is from May 2021 to August 2022.

What is the background to these encounters?

The encounters started from May 2021 when the new government (under Chief Minister Himanta Biswas Sarma) came to power in Assam. I lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission on July 10, 2021, asking it to intervene. The NHRC did not issue a notice nor did it do anything.

In September 2021 I filed a RTI (Right to Information) application with the NHRC on what action was taken on my complaint.

Before replying to me the NHRC issued a notice to Assam's director general of police as well as the Assam Human Rights Commission.

I learnt from the media that on July 12, 2021, AHRC had taken suo motu action on July 7, 2021. This was done so that they could take away the jurisdiction from the NHRC.

There is a section in the Human Rights Act that whoever takes cognisance first, be it the Assam Human Rights Commission or the National Human Rights Commission, they will do the enquiry.

Now the question is whether the AHRC needs five days to issue a notice to the DGP's office in Guwahati which is located in the same place as the AHRC office.

Why do you think the AHRC did this?

AHRC is a toothless tiger. They are appointed by the state government. They don't have staff and they have mentioned it in their affidavit. And by backdating the date to July 7, they barred the NHRC's jurisdiction.

I said let the AHRC take action. But till December 21, 2021, they did not take any action. No investigation, no inquiry except writing to the state government asking them what action have they taken on their complaint.

So what did you then do?

On December 24, 2021, I filed a PIL in the Gauhati high court which was taken up on January 4, 2022. At this time the AHRC suo motu closed the case which they initiated on July 7 stating that since the PIL has been filed in the Gauhati high court, they are closing the case.

AHRC just got away from its responsibility.

How did you reach the Supreme Court?

The case went on and on in the Gauhati high court. The state government gave three affidavits and the last affidavit was given in September 2022. They gave a list of 171 police encounters and that 56 people died in them. This was the Assam government's affidavit and these deaths were between May 2021 and August 2022.

Who are these 56 people and what were their crimes?

According to the police some were smuggling cows or selling drugs.

But I found that only a few -- that is 15 to 20 out of 171 -- had criminal antecedents.

150 out of 171 people in these encounters had no criminal records.

In between the hearing the Gauhati high court asked me to get the FIR of the 171 police encounters. I then wrote to 30 chief judicial magistrate district courts of Assam to get the FIR. The court directed the police stations to follow suit.

I got 44 FIR copies and on plain reading you can find out that there was a violation of PUCL vs State of Maharashtra judgment. This judgment (external link) lays down how investigations should be conducted after police encounters, and none of it was followed.

What is the process to be followed by the police in an encounter?

Say, for example, you stay in Santacruz (west) in Mumbai city. There will be a police station at Santacruz (west) for sure. And now take another area of Mumbai, Colaba. So if there is a police encounter in Santacruz (west) then it is not the Santacruz (west) police that will do the investigation but the Colaba police station will do the investigation after the police encounter killing.

The police officer has to be from a different police station. And if one star rank police officer has done the encounter, after that a minimum two star rank police officer has to do the investigation and this two star rank police officer should be from a different police jurisdiction.

Was this followed in these 171 cases?

In the 44 FIRs I received I found out that if the encounter has been done in, say, again for example, Santacruz (west) police jurisdiction by one star rank police official, he only becomes the informant in the FIR and he only investigates the FIR.

Everything was in violation of the PUCL vs State of Maharashtra judgment.

Didn't the Supreme Court say that barring a few cases there was no procedural breakdown as you are stating?

The FIR has to be lodged in the same police station but investigation has to be done by the police officer of a different police station. There is a technicality (problem). We are saying an independent FIR has not been registered.

The Supreme Court says an FIR has been lodged but I must point out that it was not done according to the PUCL judgment.

The government did not submit anything on record. They just gave affidavits stating that we are doing independent investigation in terms of the PUCL judgment. That has been raised in the court order itself, where it says, The state of Assam has failed to indicate the present state of investigation in all the 171 cases leading to death or grievous injury.

What about the families of people who died in police encounters?

I think 34 petitions of families were going on in the AHRC and NHRC. They did not take any step. Three victims gave an affidavit to me stating their loved ones were killed in fake encounters, which I filed in the Supreme Court of India.

The police said these people are dreaded criminals, which was not the case.

In Nagaon (2022), one AASU (All Assam Students Union) student was shot at and the police said he was involved in ganja trade. It was only when political pressure was brought it was found that the investigation officer who shot at him was drunk. And he shot at that student because there was a quarrel over parking. (The police officer was later suspended [external link].)

Assam Jatiya Prasad President Lurinjyoti Gogoi and General Secretary Jagadish Bhuyan claimed that the chief minister, who also holds the home portfolio, had in July 2021 instructed police officers to shoot alleged criminals below the knee. The controversial directive, they alleged, led to a sharp rise in police encounters across Assam. Is it true?

Yes, it is true. There is a video available.

Don't you think it is right for the police to shoot a criminal who is trying to escape below the knee?

If someone is escaping you will try to apprehend him. Why would the police shoot that person? You can shoot if there is a threat to police safety.

There were 171 police encounters but not a single policeman officer got hurt or injured.

The police in the FIRs say they shot at a criminal in self-defence but in the IPC (the Indian Penal Code) it states self-defence is statutory. Self-defence can be availed only if you show you had a threat.

Don't you think targeting police officers for these encounters will have a demoralising effect on the security forces?

There are 70,000 to 80,000 police officers in Assam. Out of these 70,000 to 80,000 police officers we are questioning only 200 of them who were involved in fake encounters. So to say my petition will demoralise the entire Assam police force is a wrong conclusion.

I am not questioning the integrity of 69,800 who are clean and honest. I am questioning only 200 of them.

Is there police raj in Assam?

Yes, these police encounters were done to create fear in the minds of the youth of Assam.

If you see the history of Assam, AASU is a very vibrant organisation. They come and protest in huge numbers against any wrongdoings of the government.

But now, no protests happen in Assam because of fear of police encounters.

Fear psychosis has been created by the Assam government.