NHRC asks Assam govt to pay ex gratia in fake encounter

CORRESPONDENT GUWAHATI, MARCH 12 THE National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Assam government to pay Rs.5 lakh each to the families of two youth killed in an alleged fake encounter. One Munindra Kalita (26) and Pingal Deka (27) were killed in a joint offensive by the police and army. The orders asking the Assam government to make the payment were passed by a two-member division bench of Justice D. Murugesan and Satyabrata Pal, both members. The Commission sought a proof of the payment on or before April 17. “The Commission has held that the Government of Assam has no explanation to offer to its various observations raising doubts about the genuineness of the encounter,” a release issued by the Commission stated. The Commission had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident and registered a case on the basis of information on the Assam Police website that two cadres of the United Liberation Front of Assam were killed in an encounter at Na-Satra under Sarthebari police station in the state’s Barpeta district on July 10, 2009.During the course of its probe, the Commission did not find the enquiry conducted by the magistrate ‘helpful’ and observed that he had not taken the trouble to examine the witness evidence to check the police claim that the entire village was cordoned off before the encounter. “There was no forensic laboratory test to establish the scientific evidence to substantiate that the encounter was genuine as claimed by the police.The post-mortem report conclusively demolished the case made out by the police and contrary to their claims of encounter from a distance, it was found that both the men were shot at contact range,” the release added.