Guwahati, July 30: The Gauhati High Court has directed the Assam government to prepare the final report of the cause of death of three Hmar youths, who were arrested by the state police in Cachar district on July 16 last, and allegedly killed in a crossfire between police and suspected militants the next day.
“The Court is of the view that since in the postmortem report the opinion regarding the cause of death is kept pending till receipt of the chemical analysis report of viscera from the Directorate of Forensic Science (DFS), Assam, Kahilipara, it will be appropriate to direct the State to expedite the report of the chemical analysis and to prepare the final report of the cause of death so that the State respondents can file their affidavit-in-opposition along with a copy of the postmortem report,” a division bench of the High Court said.
The Court further directed the state government to preserve the bodies of the three deceased persons at the morgue of Silchar Medical College and Hospital till the next date (August 2, 2024) of hearing.
The counsel appearing for the petitioners had requested that the post-mortem of the three bodies be conducted by doctors from outside Assam.
Contrary to allegations that the three youths were killed in an “extrajudicial execution”, the police had claimed that the trio (who were leading a police team to the hideout of suspected militants) came under attack from suspected militants and died of injuries they suffered in the crossfire.
The Advocate General for Assam had, in accordance with a directive on July 24, 2024, produced the post-mortem report of the three deceased persons in a sealed cover before the Court last Friday.
The Court also asked the state government to file the affidavit-in-opposition by August 1, 2024.
It may be noted that the deaths had sparked protests in Dima Hasao district of Assam and Manipur. A Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the deaths was also sought by some organisations in Manipur.