Doubtful encounter, compensate victim's kin: NHRC to Assam

Doubting the genuineness of a gunbattle between a joint team of police and CRPF with ultras, NHRC has asked Assam government to pay Rs five lakh monetary relief to the next of kin of a youth, whom the security forces claimed was a Bodo militant, killed in the encounter.
Acting on a complaint of the victim's brother, NHRC said it had raised many questions about the "claimed genuineness" of the encounter on June 23, 2010 in which one Rajib Basumatary was killed in Tezpur's Doimoguri village.
Assam Police had maintained that Basumatary was an NDFB cadre and they opened fire at a militant group, in which the youth was also present, during a search operation. While two NDFB cadres succumbed to bullet injuries, others managed to escape.

Only one body was identified as that of 25-year-old Basumatary, police had maintained.
"Rajib's elder brother had requested for Commission's intervention in the matter denying the police version that his brother was a cadre of NDFB or any terrorist outfit.
"He claimed that his brother was working in a private company and on June 22, 2010 had went to the village to look after his agricultural land when in the early morning this incident happened," the Commission said.

After considering various reports on record, NHRC raised many questions but Assam government, despite having been given sufficient time, did not respond to the queries, it said.

"Therefore, the Commission held that the state government had no views on the matter and recommended the monetary relief to the victim's family and also called for the proof of payment by June 13, 2013," it said.
The Commission noted that it had received copies of the inquest, post postmortem and magisterial enquiry report.
It observed that the magisterial enquiry report "appeared to be perfunctory" as the police account about the genuineness of encounter was accepted.
However, the Commission said it found several points on which the clarifications were needed and asked Sonitpur SP to either clarify or confirm issues raised by it.

The Commission asked about the recovery of only two cartridges when police had claimed that the items seized from the dead bodies were found in a small house in Doimoguri village.
"According to the seizure list sent by the police, all items recovered from the dead bodies were found in 'a small house under the village of Doimoguri'. The firing, therefore, took place from within the house and, as per police, several men fired at them.
"If so, there would have been a large number of spent cartridges in that house. How would the police explain the recovery of only two spent cartridges?" NHRC pointed out.

The Commission also sought clarification on armourer's report, which simply described the weapon and the cartridges, and asked whether a test was conducted in a ballistics laboratory to confirm that the weapon had been fired and that the spent cartridges had been fired from it.
It also noted that no report was sent to the Commission to confirm that either of the dead men had handled it.
"This could have been established only if their fingerprints were matched in a forensic laboratory with those on the pistol allegedly recovered from them. Was this standard forensic test done, and if so, what was the result?" the Commission had asked.