NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to conduct an independent probe into police encounter cases where proper procedure was allegedly not followed in the state between May 2021 and August 2022.A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said that the records furnished by the Assam government themselves indicate that some instances may warrant further evaluation to ascertain whether the guidelines laid down in the 2014 verdict of PUCL versus the state of Maharashtra have been meticulously complied with, in both letter and spirit.The court gave the order while disposing of a plea that sought an independent investigation into over 171 police encounters in Assam between May 2021 and August 2022. The SC said its observation that Assam has not followed the guidelines should not be construed as casting any aspersion on the state’s investigation.
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