Court upholds earlier inquiries, allowing families to seek further legal recourse if needed.
The Gauhati High Court has dismissed a petition seeking an investigation into the alleged custodial deaths of three men from the Hmar community in Assam’s Cachar district. The men, identified as Lallungawi Hmar, Lalbeikkung Hmar, and Joshua, were reportedly killed during a police encounter on July 17, 2024, one day after their arrest on suspicions of militancy. The incident has since sparked significant outrage in Assam and the neighboring state of Manipur.
Following the alleged killings, Hmar groups requested a thorough investigation. In August 2024, the families of the deceased filed a petition in the High Court, urging for an independent investigation led by a director general of police from outside Assam, or by a senior police officer not affiliated with the Assam Police or the state government.
In its ruling on Monday, the bench comprising Justices Kalyan Rai Surana and Susmita Phukan Khaund noted that the matter had already been referred to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and an additional superintendent of police in the Hailakandi district for investigation. The court expressed its belief that it could not assume the investigating agency would conduct the investigation in a biased manner or shield the police officials involved in the alleged extrajudicial killings.
The court clarified that if the petitioners remained dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation, they were free to file an appropriate application. The justices pointed out that it was uncertain whether a charge sheet had been filed against any errant officials or if the investigation was still ongoing.
In March, the NHRC had closed the case based on a magisterial inquiry led by an Assam Civil Service officer, a decision that has been criticized for not adhering to the NHRC’s guidelines, which typically call for a judicial inquiry into suspected custodial deaths. A lawyer involved in the case remarked that the families were compelled to approach the court due to their lack of faith in the Assam government’s ability to conduct a fair investigation.
The court recognized that the post-mortem results indicated signs of torture and gunshot wounds from close range, raising concerns about potential cold-blooded murder by the police. Despite these findings, the court expressed skepticism regarding the state’s motives, questioning why the government would resort to killing ordinary citizens and advised the family to trust the ongoing investigation by the NHRC.
The petitioners had previously asserted that the three men were arrested from Ganga Nagar in Cachar’s Krishnapur Road, where they were allegedly detained by police personnel with their hands tied behind their backs. They claimed that the men were later taken out of the police station during the night or early morning and killed by the Assam Police.
Hours after the incident, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed via social media that the deceased were suspected militants who died in an encounter with the police, asserting that firearms were recovered from them. The police later stated that the three men were apprehended before being taken to an area where other suspected militants were reportedly present. They contended that an exchange of gunfire ensued, resulting in the deaths of the three men.
However, the Hmar Students’ Association and the Hmar Inpui, the leading organization of the Hmar tribe, alleged that the men were unlawfully detained and brutally executed, contradicting the police’s narrative. They characterized the deceased as “village volunteers” who had defended their communities against militant threats amid ongoing ethnic tensions in the region.
