4 days ago
Assam: Mother of teen killed in police firing after Goalpara eviction drive seeks judicial probe
The mother of a 19-year-old who was killed in police firing during a clash between protesters and authorities after an eviction drive in Assam's Goalpara district in July has urged the chief justice of the Gauhati High Court to order a judicial investigation into the incident, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday.
The violence on July 17 had resulted in the death of Shakaur Ali, whose home was demolished when authorities in Goalpara cleared 140 hectares of land in the Paikan Reserve Forest on July 12. The eviction drive displaced 1,080 families, most of whom are Muslims of Bengali origin.
Since the demolition, the displaced families had been living in tents and makeshift tarpaulin huts in the Betbari area. Officials had asked them to dismantle the structures.
On the morning of July 17, the authorities dug up a road that provided connectivity to the settlement, which led to protests and sparked the clashes.
On July 18, the Assam Police arrested 10 persons in connection with the clashes. Those arrested 'were caught on video pelting stones and obstructing officials', the senior superintendent of police had said.
In a letter to the High Court's registrar general, Ali's mother, Nachiran Bibi, described the police firing as 'unprovoked, excessive and disproportionate' and requested a judicial probe into the incident, The Indian Express reported.
'My sons – Shakaur Ali and Noser Ali – also went there to see the incident out of curiosity,' she said. 'Immediately, the police officials used lathi charge and then started open firing at the crowd… As a result of the firing, my son … sustained bullet injuries above his neck and died on the spot.'
Bibi said that she had 'lost trust in the police' to conduct an impartial investigation.
The police and the forest authorities have said that the security personnel opened fire after they were attacked by residents, the newspaper reported.
