Skip to content Skip to navigation

Supreme Court hears Assam 'select killings' case

A Division Bench of Supreme Court of India comprising JJ Dalbir Bhandari and H.S. Bedi after hearing Prof. Bhim Singh, Advocate for the petitioner ALOK, a human right group in Assam and Mr. Amarender, Senior Advocate for the Union of India regarding the case of Select Killings in Assam between 1998 and 2001 known as Select Killings, the Supreme Court allowed Prof. Bhim Singh to file Additional Affidavit in connection with extending the jurisdiction and scope of Justice K.N. Saikia Commission and enhancement of compensation to the victims upto 50 lacs. from 3.5 lacs. This was stated in a press release from the Prof. Singh's office in New Delhi

ALOK, a human right activist has filed a petition in the Supreme Court for inquiry and appropriate action into the secret killing of about 300 innocent civilians who were well-wishers of ULFA in Assam during the period of 1998 to 2001. Notice was issued by Supreme Court to the Government of Assam and Union of India. The Government of Assam appointed retired Justice K.N. Saikia who has submitted an investigation report of 40 persons only. The Government of Assam had referred case of only 40 persons to the Commission.

Prof. Bhim Singh urged the court to direct the Government of Assam to refer the cases of all the victims and provide a compensation of Rs.50 lacs. at least. Justice K.N. Saikia in his report has agreed that all the victims were taken from their homes secretly and later killed by the police.

Prof. Bhim Singh in his submissions wanted to submit further details about the remaining victims. The court allowed Prof. Bhim Singh. In the meantime the Supreme Court has given six months to the Assam Government to identify the heirs to verify the next of the kins of the victims.

Comments

Pallavi Barua's picture

Killing one leads to trial and 'hanging by the neck unto death'; mass murders end up in commission report and 'clean chit'.

Pages

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

Tight security on R-Day

25 Jan 2012 - 9:18pm | editor
Security has been tightened to ensure smooth conduct of the 63rd Republic Day celebrations on Thursday. Assam Chief Secretary N K Das reviewed security scenario when he was chairing a meeting in...

Finally AGP to field Toppo!

14 Mar 2014 - 9:57am | AT News
The Opposition AGP is likely to field Joseph Toppo in Tezpur in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls slated for April 24.The move to field Toppo from Tezpur got momentum day after the sitting MP faxed his...

Bus accident: 4 died in Kokrajhar

1 Apr 2009 - 8:42am | editor
Four person died, 15 others sustained injury as a bus was falling into a deep gorge in Kokrajhar on Wednesday. According to information, the incident took place at around 1 in the afternoon when the...

Assam confirms its second H1N1 virus infection case

18 Aug 2009 - 5:32am | editor
Assam on Tuesday has confirms its second swine flu cases within a period of four days. The confirmation came from the Regional Medical Research Centre at Lahowal in Dibrugarh three days later an...

Other Contents by Author

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has written to his counterparts in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharasthra to ensure safety of the Assamese people living in these states. According to information, Gogoi has received assurance that the people from the states would be provided adequate security in the time of ethnic clash in BTAD areas and Dhubri. Gogoi has given instruction to the district authorities to maintain calm even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Union Home Minister Sushil Shinde have given separate assurances that security will be provided to affected people.
Security forces have been put on alert to ensure peace and normalcy during the Independence Day celebrations across the state on Wednesday. Additional forces are remaining stand by at sensitive locations to foil any attempt by militant outfits to create distrubances. The government has some intelligence inputs about ULFA’s possible attempt to disrupt the celebrations in Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts. A 'red alert' has already been sounded across the state, which witnessed a few IED blasts targeted at security personnel during the past couple of weeks, particularly in Goalpara district. The anti-talk faction of ULFA has called a customary state-...
Altogether 10,636 refugees having left the camps set up to accommodate the violence-hit people in BTAD areas and Dhubri. According to government sources, 2,92,852 inmates are still sheltering in 228 relief camps. Kokrajhar district alone has 10,300 inmates in the camps. Around 336 people went back in Chirang. But nobody in Dhubri district has left the camps. Among the total inmates in the relief camp, 61,439 belong to the Bodo community while 2,31,413 are from the minority community. In Dhubri, 1,55,314 people are living in the relief camps, 77,459 in Kokrajhar, 47,477 in Chirang and 12,602 in Bongaigaon, the release said. Dhubri has the highest number of 133 relief camps followed by...
President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday expressed grave concerns over the escalating tensions between two ethnic groups in BTAD areas and Dhubri. In his presidential address to the nation on the eve of the Independence Day, Mukherjee said, "old fires that threaten the stability of the nation have not been fully doused the ash continues to smoulder. According to Mukherjee, minorities need solace, understanding and protection from aggression. Violence is not an option violence is an invitation to greater violence. He further said that peace was required for a new economic surge in the region that can quell the competitive causes of violence.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said that time has come to revisit the Assam Accord and adapt it to the present conditions. In his address to the nation on the eve of the 66th Independence Day on Tuesday, Mukherjee said that concrete attempts are on to heal the wounds which includes the Assam accord signed by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Notably, the Assam Accord was signed on August 15, 1985 by the Centre, state with student leaders of the Assam.
Sashastra Seema Bal personnel have been awarded with various police service medals on the eve of Independence Day. Constable Subhash Kumar was posthumously awarded with the Police Medal for gallantry for undertaking operations against insurgents in Kokrajhar district. The other awardees of the President's Police Medal include DIGs Chanchal Shekhar (meritorious service) and Subhash Kumar (distinguished service). The Centre deploys SSB personnel along Indo-Nepal and Bhutan borders.
The Centre has asked all states to provide security to the north east people living across the country. In a communication, the Home Ministry said there have been reports of attack on students and other people from Northeast in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and immediate steps must be taken to stop such kind of violence. These states include Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. The communiqué said that a large number of Northeast people have been living in these states which is why, additional forces have been deployed.
Police officials probing the recent Mumbai violence on BTAD riot have raised doubts on the role of a section of politicians from Assam. They sure of a particular political party’s role with vested interests and there was a strong possibility of some people from outside Mumbai being behind it. The agencies have found that those who indulged in violence were brought to the spot in hired buses and were armed with lathis, sickles and other instruments. Two persons were killed and at least 55 injured when a protest in Mumbai’s Azad Maidan against BTAD riots and attacks on Muslims in Myanmar turned violent on Saturday with demonstrators torching vehicles and pelting stones.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday said that his government will give priority to the development of rural areas saying that only the rural Assam would help the state progress on all fronts. Addressing a function in Guwahati, he said that the government has been village-centric since day one as without the development of rural areas no real development can take place. Minister for Panchayat and Rural Development Rakibul Hussain said a total 60 vehicles had been distributed today in the first phase to the BDOs to improve their access to the remote areas.
AIUDF has asked Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to bear responsibility for the incident. Party president Badruddin Ajmal said that the law and order machinery in the state has failed and Gogoi as the chief minister has to bear the responsibility for this. The condition of the minorities affected in the violence was pathetic and they would not be able to return to their respective homes from the camps by August 15 as most are still traumatised.