Full freedom to Assam police to act against criminals Himanta on encounters

(Minor edits in intro)
Guwahati, Jul 15 (PTI) Unfazed by criticism of his
government over recent encounter killings, Assam Chief
Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said the state police
has "full operational liberty" to fight against the criminals
within the ambit of law.
Replying to a Zero Hour discussion on the rising number of
encounters initiated by the Leader of the Opposition Debabrata
Saikia in the Assembly, Sarma appealed to all the MLAs to send
a message that the House is against any form of crime.
"As a leader of the House, I thank and congratulate the
Assam police for its work as whole and especially in my
tenure.
"I want to tell the DGP that do not torture innocent
people. You have full operational liberty as long as you fight
against the criminals as per the law," he added.
Sarma informed the house that in the last two months, 15
alleged criminals have died and 23 others were injured in
police encounters when they snatched service weapons, tried to
attack and attempted to escape.
"As the chief minister of the state and with full sense
of responsibility, I want to say that we have zero tolerance
towards cow smuggling, drug trade, human trafficking, crime
against women and children, and all crimes will be dealt with
heavily and firmly irrespective of religion and caste," he
added.
The criminals must understand that there is a government,
which is confident, resolute and has the will power to
retaliate against them if it is attacked or try to flee but
within the ambit of the law, said Sarma, who also holds the
Home portfolio.
Giving examples of the situations leading to encounters,
he said that among the killed were six suspected Dimasa
National Liberation Army (DNLA) terrorists and two alleged
militants of United People's Revolutionary Front (UPRF) who
were heavily armed and opened fire at police, which went to
arrest the insurgents.
"There is one RPF personnel, who was the kingpin of a
drug network. When police arrested him, he knew that it was
the end of his world. So, he snatched the service revolver of
one policeman and then police had to fire at him.
"In the minor rape case of Morigaon, the accused killed
the 9-year old girl and then he raped her from both sides --
vagina and anal. These are not humans. He knew that he will be
convicted with extreme punishment and so he tried to flee.
Police had to fire at him," Sarma said.
A total of 504 persons have been arrested in the last two
months for their alleged involvement in cattle smuggling and
only four of them were injured in police firing as they tried
to escape, he added.
"It is the police which again take the criminals to
hospital, treat them and then produce them in the court. Our
main attempt is to get the criminals convicted and punished,"
Sarma said.
He said that the critics are citing laws and human
rights, but the same law and the Constitution give power to a
police person to defend himself and act against the criminals.
Claiming that such police encounters have been going on
for decades, the chief minister said, "Sympathy is important,
but misplaced sympathy is very very dangerous. If a message
goes from here that the police did wrong, then they will sleep
again.
"The Assembly needs to send a strong signal against all
forms of crime. Law will rule here and police will act as per
the law. If police do anything wrong to an innocent, then we
will condemn and it will be probed. But, as long as they fight
against criminals lawfully, the assembly will stand by the
Assam police."
Earlier, Saikia pointed out media reports and said no
inquiry as per the law has been ordered in the encounters that
resulted in deaths of the alleged criminals.
"We welcome the steps taken to stop the crimes, but if
law is not followed, then it is the breakdown of the
Constitution. Police must register FIR and follow the
necessary criminal proceedings... The CM's statement at the
police conference was anti-Constitution," he added.
At the first ever face-to-face meeting with the Officers
In-Charge (OCs) of all police stations of Assam on July 5,
Sarma had said that shooting at criminals "should be the
pattern" if they attempt to escape from custody or try to
snatch arms from the police to fire at them.
On Wednesday, the chief minister told the assembly that
the Assam police will retaliate against criminals trying to
snatch service weapons of its personnel and attacking them or
fleeing from their custody, thereby defending the series of
encounters in the last two months.
Taking suo moto cognisance, the Assam Human Rights
Commission (AHRC) had on July 7 asked the state government to
institute an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the
death and injury of the accused in police encounters over the
past two months.
Earlier, a New Delhi-based lawyer from Assam, Arif
Jwadder, had filed a complaint with the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) against the Assam police for a series of
encounters that have taken place since Sarma took over on May
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)