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Officials will face action for razing houses, Assam govt tells HC
The high court had filed a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) in connection with the razing of houses of five people who allegedly set the Batadrava police station on fire on May 21 after the death of a person in custody.
Guwahati: The Assam government on Tuesday assured the Gauhati high court that appropriate action will be taken against officials involved in demolishing the houses of people accused of burning a police station in Nagaon district in May last year.
The high court had filed a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) in connection with the razing of houses of five people who allegedly set the Batadrava police station on fire on May 21 after the death of a person in custody.
The government assurance came after the high court pulled up the police in November last year for taking “illegal action”.
“The government is taking it as a very serious matter, and we are doing an inquiry. The chief secretary has been entrusted this. He will find out who are at fault and appropriate action will be taken within 15 days,” Assam’s advocate general Debajit Saikia told the court on Tuesday.
When questioned by Chief Justice RM Chhaya, Saikia assured the court that adequate compensation will be given those affected.
“Upon such assurance and in view of the fact that the state is now seized of the matter, it is expected that the state shall also take appropriate decision for compensating the persons affected by the illegal action of the officer,” the court noted in its order.
The court also asked whether action will be taken against Nagaon superintendent of police, Leena Doley, under whose supervision the police razed the houses less than 24 hours after an irate mob set the police station on fire on following the death of a fish seller, Safikul Islam.
Besides the houses in Nagaon, the Assam police razed three madrasas in August last year following arrests of people connected to them for alleged jihadi activities.
The demolitions in Morigaon, Barpeta and Bongaigaon districts took place within days of arrests of people connected to these institutions for alleged links to Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent and Bangladesh-based Ansarullah Bangla Team.
Though the madrasas were razed soon after arrests of people connected to them with alleged links to terror outfits, the official reasons cited for the demolitions by the state government and district administrations were something else.
Official orders for the demolitions stated that the buildings were structurally vulnerable and not safe for human habitation, and were constructed on government land without permission or had illegal electricity connection.
On November 17 last year, the high court castigated the Nagaon police for razing the houses, and said that, even in Hindi films procedure was followed while taking such action. “Show me from any criminal jurisprudence that for investigating a crime the police without any order can uproot a person or apply a bulldozer. The SP requires permission to dig up or bulldoze a house. Only because they head police department, they can’t break anybody’s house,” justice Chhaya said at the time.
While locals alleged that Safikul Islam was tortured to death for failing to pay a bribe, police have maintained that he was picked up in a drunken state and released later after due formalities, and that his death was unrelated to any police action. After the houses were razed with a bulldozer, police initially said that the houses were constructed illegally on government land using forged documents, and the inhabitants were involved in drug dealing and other criminal activities.
The state government has maintained that an inquiry is being conducted in the matter.
The Opposition, meanwhile, called for a committee to look into “all such illegal demolitions”.
“The opposition has been maintaining all along that demolitions were being carried out by the BJP-led government illegally. Now they have admitted this in court as well. All this has been done at the instance of chief minister who heads the home portfolio. We demand that instead of making district-level officers scapegoats in the Nagaon case, the government should form a committee to look into all such illegal demolitions and take action against senior officials who ordered them,” said senior Congress MLA and leader of opposition in assembly Debabrata Saikia.
