GUWAHATI: The Assam government told the Gauhati High Court on Tuesday that 51 persons had been killed in the state in police encounters from May last year to May this year. In an affidavit filed in the court in connection with a PIL on alleged fake encounters, the state’s Home Department said that 139 others were injured during various other incidents during the period.
The BJP-led Himanta Biswa Sarma government was installed on May 10 last year. Earlier, the court had ordered the government to file an affidavit on the alleged fake encounters by the police. The court fixed the next hearing on July 29.
Assam’s Advocate General, Devajit Saikia had represented the state. Arif Jwadder, a Delhi-based lawyer and activist, had appeared virtually. Jwadder had sought an order for the registration of an FIR in the cases and an independent probe by an agency such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He had also sought a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the HC.