Impartial probe needed: Supreme Court heat on Assam over 'fake' encounters
The Supreme Court has directed the Assam Human Rights Commission to conduct an "impartial and diligent" inquiry into 171 alleged cases of fake encounter killings by police in Assam.Acknowledging that the allegations were serious, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh directed the commission to issue a public notice asking families of alleged encounter victims to come forward.advertisement"The allegation that some of these incidents may involve fake encounters is indeed serious and, if proven, would amount to a violation of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution. It is also equally possible that upon a fair, impartial and independent investigation, some of these cases might turn out to be necessary and legally justified," the court said.
The petition was filed by an advocate, Arif Yeasin Jwadder, after the Gauhati High Court had dismissed his plea in 2023 concerning alleged fake encounters by Assam Police.Jwadder has alleged that over 80 such encounters have led to 28 deaths and 48 injuries since May 2021, when Himanta Biswa Sarma took office.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Assam government, argued that an investigation would demoralise the security personnel, who put their lives at stake to safeguard the nation from terror attacks and militancy.'PROTECTION OF IDENTITY ESSENTIAL'advertisementWhile passing the order, the top court issued a string of guidelines for the state commission, saying the alleged victims or their families must be given a fair opportunity to participate in the proceedings.The court also directed the commission to ensure the confidentiality of the identity of the alleged victims. "The protection of identity is essential to create an atmosphere of trust... ensure families of the victims are not disadvantaged," the Supreme Court bench said.Further, the Supreme Court said that if the commission felt a more detailed probe was required, it could engage retired police officials of "impeccable integrity" for inquiries.The court also asked the Assam government to ensure that all requirements are met and ensure access of all records to the human rights commission.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
an hour ago
- Mint
Israel is putting more women on the front line to help fix its manpower problem
GOLAN HEIGHTS—Days ago, an Israeli search-and-rescue team in Gaza spent hours drilling through concrete and plying aside rebar to recover the body of a fallen soldier buried under rubble in Khan Younis. The combat unit had been following a commando brigade in Gaza, recovering the bodies of dead soldiers on the battlefield. It is a routine task in the Israeli military, but it was unique that this team was made up mostly of women. 'A year and a half ago, I would never have dreamed of leading a combat team within Lebanon or Gaza," said a petite 25-year-old major. 'I think the war proved to all of us how much we are capable of." She is among a growing number of women serving on the front lines of Israel's military. Before the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that spurred the war, women were trained for combat, but left mostly to guard within Israel's borders or run checkpoints in the West Bank, considered less dangerous tasks. Now, they are entering the battlefield in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria in ways many previously thought impossible. Today, one in five combat soldiers is a woman, a ratio higher than many other modern Western militaries, experts say, and one which helps relieve Israel's acute manpower shortage after 20 months of war. Israel's military is made up largely of volunteer reservists, placing the burden of the war on regular working people, often with young families. Still, full equality in the military remains a challenge. The military last week cut short a pilot program to integrate women into Israel's main infantry units for 'expected low effectiveness," after finding that the 23 female trainees were suffering injuries and were 'not expected to meet the required standards of combat and physical fitness." The Israeli military has been pushing to recruit ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into its ranks as a solution to the manpower problem. The military and most of the country supports drafting ultra-Orthodox men, who are largely refusing to comply with a recent Supreme Court ruling that overturned their longstanding draft exemption. In light of this, integrating women eases pressure to free up men for other fighting roles. But with many of the military's core combat positions still closed to women or dominated by men, integrating women means it is only a partial solution to the manpower problem. Israel has for decades had one of the highest female representations among modern militaries, standing at about one-third overall, according to the military's most recently available data. It quickly drew on women ahead of its 1948 founding war out of a mix of socialist ideology, nationalism and necessity, experts say. Israel later scaled back women's roles until the 1990s, when Border Guard units opened their ranks to female fighters and a Supreme Court case forced the air force to recruit female pilots. Today, just over half of the military's combat roles are open to women, and 90% of overall roles. This high ratio of women in combat-designated roles is unusual for modern militaries. The U.S., although it has opened most military roles to women, still has a lower overall percentage of female forces at 18%, and therefore at the front lines. Israel is also one of the few countries that subjects women to a broad-based draft at age 18, just like men. Today, women represent 21% of Israel's combat-classed forces, jumping from 14% right ahead of the war and up from 7% a decade earlier, according to Israeli military data. The military said that it has about 4,500 female recruits in combat roles, driven by both an expansion in offerings to women and increased female demand to go into combat professions. 'There are three reasons militaries look to put women in combat roles: ideology, equality and necessity," said Jacob Stoil, chair of applied history at the Modern War Institute at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, who emphasized he was speaking from his personal research and not on behalf of the Army. 'You'll see women serving in combat roles when one of those three are the case," he said, adding that in Israel all three apply. The search-and-rescue unit that the young major belongs to is a mixed-gender fighting force specialized in excavating collapsed structures and evacuating the wounded. Ahead of the war, the unit was mostly relegated to West Bank security-keeping roles, also considered a less dangerous task. After Oct. 7, the unit was sent to the front lines in Gaza and embedded with commando units. When the war expanded to Lebanon, women were sent on front-line missions there too. The military plans to expand the unit by opening a new company in August. Since first being admitted in 2008, women have grown to fill about 70% of its combat roles, officers in the unit said. Women's conscription into combat units has long been a subject of debate in Israel. Some believe that the risk of torture or rape if captured puts women in a uniquely dangerous position. Others argue it hurts male morale, and that it creates additional challenges for some religious men who don't want to be in the same unit as a woman. Perceptions began to change after the Oct. 7 attack, when three all-female tank crews in the Caracal Battalion, meant to patrol Israel's border with Egypt but not enter enemy territory, raced through the desert to fight off Palestinian militants in and around Israeli communities under siege. Israel's military said that it has about 4,500 female recruits in combat roles. The Israeli military's then-chief-of-staff Herzi Halevi took notice at the time, saying that their 'action and fighting" against Hamas on Oct. 7 answers critics of women's integration into fighting forces. The search-and-rescue unit's base in Zikim also came under attack, and seven soldiers died fending off militants. Among the rescuers sent to recapture and secure the base was a 21-year-old lieutenant. She and other relief forces held off militants for two days before tanks arrived to back them up, she said. Shortly thereafter, she was attached to Israel's equivalent to the Navy SEALs as part of the initial phase of Israel's ground invasion, helping them hunt for underground tunnels in Gaza. She doesn't think she would ever have been given such an opportunity before Oct. 7. 'I think that they just realized how powerful we are," she said. 'They realized we can actually do it."
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
BJP will form government in Bengal, Tamil Nadu: Amit Shah's power play in Madurai
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin's party DMK, saying it crossed all limits of corruption in the last four years of its tenure. Addressing a rally in Madurai on Sunday, Shah also vowed that the BJP is going to form a government in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu in DMK government in Tamil Nadu has crossed all limits of corruption. They committed a huge scam by handing over the Rs 450 crore nutrition kits provided by the Central government to a private company, and deprived the poor of food," Shah alleged while addressing party also claimed that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government also committed a sand mining scam to the tune of Rs 4,600 crore, causing poor people of the state to buy sand at inflated prices just to help the ruling party to mint money. The home minister also raked up the alleged Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) scam, claiming it cost the state exchequer Rs 39,000 crore, which could otherwise be used to build two extra rooms in every school in Tamil last month, the Supreme Court halted Enforcement Directorate proceedings into the case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, after hearing a plea by the Tamil Nadu government, who said it was an overreach of the central agency's powers and a violation of the Constitution."I have a long list of scams committed by the MK Stalin government, but I don't want to waste time elaborating on each one of them," Shah Shah also attacked the DMK government over last year's Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, which claimed the lives of over 60 people, alleging that their corruption resulted in the TO FORM GOVERNMENT IN TAMIL NADU, BENGALRiding high on confidence on the back of the BJP's recent election wins in Odisha, Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi, Amit Shah vowed the saffron party will also be successful in defeating their rivals in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal next year, and form a government."The NDA alliance of the BJP and the AIADMK is going to form a government in Tamil Nadu next year. I understand the pulse of the people and can say that the people of Tamil Nadu will dethrone the DMK in the next elections," Shah exuded former BJP president also attacked the Stalin government, accusing it of not having fulfilled 60 per cent of their poll promises. "Mr Stalin, I dare you to tell people how many promises you made in your poll manifesto in the last elections you have fulfilled".Heaping praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership and political will, Amit Shah spoke about the recent Operation Sindoor precision strikes carried out to dismantle Pakistani terror recalled the 2016 Uri attack, the 2019 Pulwama attack and the Pahalgam attack in April, saying that it was PM Modi who did not refrain from hitting deep inside enemy territory in retaliation to these terrorist between the BJP and certain opposition parties, has heated up with regard to Operation Sindoor. While the BJP claims the precision strikes became possible because of PM Modi's strong leadership, the opposition accuses the Modi government of claiming undue credit for the strikes carried out by the armed Watch IN THIS STORY#Tamil Nadu#Amit Shah
Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
16 arrested under Assam Cattle Preservation Act for illegal slaughter during Eid
Silchar: At least 16 people were arrested under the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021, for alleged illegal slaughtering of cattle in the state during Eid-ul-Zuha, police said Sunday. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said multiple incidents of cattle slaughter, in violation of existing legal provisions, and recovery of cattle parts were reported from five Assam districts, including Kamrup Metro, Dhubri, Hojai, Cachar, and Sribhumi. He said suspected body parts of slaughtered cows were found in multiple locations, including near Guwahati's Cotton University, and police discovered five illegal slaughter sites in Cachar and Sribhumi. 'While our Constitution guarantees the right to religious freedom, it equally upholds the rule of law and public order. But during this year's Eid-ul-Zuha, illegal cattle slaughter and recovery of cattle parts were reported from multiple locations,' he added. Around 16 individuals were arrested separately in Cachar and Sribhumi districts between Saturday and Sunday, police said. 'We arrested seven individuals for their involvement in illegal cow slaughterings under Section 196 (acts to promote hatred based on religion, race, language, or other grounds), 299 (culpable homicide), 325 (killing, poisoning, maiming, or rendering useless any animal), 3(5) (criminal acts committed by several persons with a common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and Section 13(1) of the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021. Further investigation is going on,' superintendent of police (SP) of Sribhumi Partha Pratim Das said. Additional SP (Crime) of Cachar district, Rajat Pal, said that acting on complaints received from Gumrah, Silchar, and Lakhipur, police arrested nine individuals. 'The law and order situation in the district is normal now,' he said. In August 2021, the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam cabinet passed the Assam Cattle Preservation Act, 2021, replacing a cattle preservation law of 1950. As per the new Act, cattle slaughter and the sale of beef within a five-kilometre radius of a temple or satra (Assamese religious sites) is illegal. These activities are also illegal in areas where Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs are in the majority. In December last year, the state government announced some additional restrictions on beef consumption and, according to the chief minister, beef consumption in public places — including restaurants, hotels, public events, and community festivals — is restricted and illegal in Assam. During Eid-ul-Zuha on Saturday, several organisations, including Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), staged protests against the alleged illegal cow slaughters in Cachar and Sribhumi. 'Open cow slaughter in Hindu-majority areas is banned in Assam but still some people try this. This time we refrained from going to those areas physically. Rather, we informed the police and they acted immediately,' Mithun Nath from VHP said.
