The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Assam Human Rights Commission to investigate the alleged fake encounters by the state police since 2021, Live Law reported.

The court passed the direction in response to a petition by a lawyer named Arif Jwaddar, who claimed that over 80 such staged gunfights had taken place in the state since May 2021, when Bharatiya Janata Party leader Himanta Biswa Sarma became the chief minister.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and NK Singh on Wednesday said that while a mere compilation of cases could not lead to blanket judicial orders, allegations of staged gunfights were serious, Bar and Bench reported. It said that the allegations, if proven, would amount to grave violations of the right to life.

However, the court added: “It is also equally possible that upon a fair, impartial and independent investigation, some of these cases might may turn out to be necessary and legally justified.”

The judges said that the victims of the alleged staged gunfights or their families must be given a fair and meaningful chance to take part in the proceedings, Bar and Bench reported. They directed that the human rights commission issue a public notice inviting anyone who may have such grievances to come forward.

The commission can also carry out further investigation if it feels that it is needed, the court said, according to Bar and Bench.

“For this purpose, the state commission may engage the services of retired or serving police officers of impeccable integrity and unblemished record, provided that such officers are not in any way connected with or subordinate to the police personnel involved in the alleged incidents," the bench said.

Jwaddar, the petitioner, alleged that 16 guidelines prescribed in a 2014 Supreme Court judgment on deaths in gunfights with the police had been “rampantly violated” in Assam. The judgement referred to was pronounced in People’s Union of Civil Liberties versus State of Maharashtra and ruled that “killings in police encounters require independent investigation” to restore public faith in the police.

Since Sarma became the chief minister of Assam, the state has seen several police shootings, Scroll has reported. Many of those injured and killed belong to the state’s ethnic and religious minorities. The police have defended their actions, claiming that the victims were gunned down as they tried to flee or attack officials.

In February 2023, the Assam Human Rights Commission found two officials guilty of killing a man accused of theft in a staged gunfight in 2021.

Also read: In BJP rule, 31 killed in Assam’s alleged encounters – most belong to ethnic or religious minorities