The Supreme Court on Tuesday verbally remarked that accused persons in Assam losing their lives in allegedly staged gunfights was “not good for the rule of law”, Live Law reported.

Justice Ujjal Bhuyan made the remark while hearing a petition on deaths in allegedly fake gunfights in Assam.

The petitioner, Arif Jwaddar, claimed that over 80 such staged confrontations have taken place in the state since May 2021, when Bharatiya Janata Party leader Himanta Biswa Sarma became the chief minister. Jwaddar added that 28 people were killed and 48 were injured in “fake encounters” in this period.

On Tuesday, Additional Advocate General for Assam Nalin Kohli told the court that no police personnel accused of involvement in such gunfights had been promoted. However, Justice Bhuyan said in response: “It is not a good thing for rule of law that so many accused are just losing their lives like that.”

The court said that it intended to form a commission to look into such deaths, Guwahati Plus reported.

Jwaddar approached the Supreme Court after the Gauhati High Court rejected his public interest litigation seeking an inquiry into the matter.

In April, the Supreme Court suggested that the petitioner could place additional material on record to support his contentions, Live Law reported. He then presented affidavits of three persons who were allegedly injured in a staged gunfight in the Tinsukia district in December – Deepjyoti Neog, Biswanath Burgohain and Manuj Burgohain.

Neog told the court that he was shot in the legs by a senior police official in the early hours of December 24, according to Guwahati Plus. He denied the police’s allegations that he tried to snatch a pistol from an official and run away.

Since Himanta Biswa Sarma became the chief minister of Assam, the state has seen a number of police shootings. Many of those injured and killed belong to the state’s ethnic and religious minorities. The police defend their actions, claiming that the accused persons were gunned down after tried to flee or attacked officials.

In February last year, the Assam Human Rights Commission had found two officials guilty of killing a man accused of theft in a fake gunfight in 2021.

Nevertheless, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika told the Assembly on April 4 that no one had been killed in “police encounters” in Assam. While Hazarika stated that some casualties and injuries have occurred due to police action, he claimed that the police fired in self-defence in those cases.

Also read: In BJP rule, 31 killed in Assam’s alleged encounters – most belong to ethnic or religious minorities