No one killed in police encounters: Assam minister in State Assembly

Assam Parliamentary affairs minister Pijush Hazarika today said that no individual has been killed in encounter by the Assam Police since 2021 till this year. Replying to a query on the last day of the Budget Session of the Assam Assembly, Pijush Hazarika backed the police action and said that such incidents were an outcome of circumstances when police had to fire in “self-defense.”

Pijush Hazarika in his reply said,”I want to clearly say once again that no person has been killed in encounter. Why do everytime we severly criticize the Assam Police? I feel sad when I think as to why we are giving trouble to the Assam Police personnel?”

Hazarika speaking about the police action said,”If police have to save themselves from the jaws of death, than they have to shoot at any miscreant or anyone who is indulged in crime.”

At the same time, the Assam parliamentary affairs minister clearly maintained,”The police cannot kill anybody without any reason, they can do so if only there is a situation where they have to save themselves.”

“The police has not killed any innocent individual in the recent past. If someone has been killed, than it is when they had tried to attack the police or injured any police,” Hazarika added.

Altogether 138 cases of such police action have been registered in Assam from May 2021 to February 2023, in which 26 persons have been killed and 120 injured.

The minister further said, that the 26 accused who lost their lives in such incidents had criminal backgrounds.

Reiterating that the government will not allow any safe passage for police personnel who are involved in such incidents or wrongful action, Pijush Hazarika informed that action has been initiated against 16 police personnel on grounds of various lapses. He said,”There could be lacunae in some cases. Clean chit has not been given to the police either. That is why we have taken action against them”, Hazarika said.