Assam fake encounters: NHRC grants Rs 10 lakh compensation

Guwahati: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed Assam government to pay Rs 10 lakh in total as compensation to families of two persons who had been killed in an encounter with a joint team of the Assam Police and the Army.
In a communiqué, the NHRC has informed that it has recommended that the Government of Assam pay Rs.5 lakh each to the next of kin of Munindra Kalita (26) and Pingal Deka (27),  who were killed in an encounter wth the Assam Police and the Army in a joint operation and asked for a proof of payment on or before April 17, 2014.
The Commission has held that the Assam Government had no explanation to offer to its various observations, raising doubts if the encounter was genuine. The orders were passed by the Division Bench comprising NHRC Members, Justice D. Murugesan and  Satyabrata Pal.
The Commission had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident and registered a case on the basis of information given on the website of the Assam Police that  two ULFA extremists were killed in an encounter at Na-Satra, under Sarthebari Police Station in Barpeta district of Assam, on July 10, 2009.
The Commission, in the course of its inquiry, did not find the inquiry conducted by the magistrate into the encounter deaths helpful and observed that he had not taken the trouble to examine the witness evidence toverify 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 sustain that the encounter was genuine and took place, as alleged 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.