Assam assures action against officials for bulldozing houses of accused

The Assam government on Tuesday assured the Gauhati high court that appropriate action will be taken against officials involved in bulldozing houses of persons accused of burning a police station in Nagaon district in May last year.

The government’s assurance came after the high court filed a suo moto petition in connection with razing of houses of five persons who allegedly set the Batadrava police station on fire on May 21 last year after alleged death of a person in police custody. The high court had pulled up the police department in November last year for such “illegal action”.

“The government is taking it as a very serious matter and we are doing some inquiry. The chief secretary has been entrusted with 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 adequate compensation to those affected as well.

“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 would be taken against Nagaon superintendent of police (SP), Leena Doley, under whose supervision the police razed the houses of five persons, less than 24 hours after an irate mob set the police station on fire following the death of a fish seller, Safikul Islam.

On November 17, the high court had castigated the Nagaon police for razing the houses and stated that even Hindi films follow procedure while taking such actions.

“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,” chief justice Chhaya had said.

While it was alleged that Islam was tortured to death for failing to pay a bribe to the police, the police maintained that he was picked up in a drunken state and released later after formalities.

The police claimed that the houses were razed as they were constructed illegally on government land using forged documents and the inhabitants were involved in drug dealing and other criminal activities.