annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 Assam
her if she disclosed her ordeal to anyone.
The officer also allegedly offered her Rs
10,000 to keep silent. 42
IV. Impunity
Impunity reigns in Assam. On 26
March 2004, the single-judge bench of
Justice B.K. Sharma of Guwahati High
Court asked the Defence Ministry to pay
Rs 1 lakh as compensation to a housewife
who was raped by two army jawans 313
Field Regiment during a counterinsurgency
operation in Nalbari district on
16 June 1998. 43 But little reference was
made with regard to the prosecution of the
culprits.
On 13 July 2004, Assam State Human
Rights Commission awarded interim
compensation of Rs 50,000 to the next of
kin of ULFA cadre Ananta Roy who was
killed in custody after being arrested on 22
October 1999. The Commission also
recommended to the State Government to
prosecute the guilty police personnel, 44 but
there is little information about the
prosecution.
Often the punishment for arbitrary
killings is the transfer to police lines or at
best suspension. In October 2004, the
National Human Rights Commission
directed the Assam Government to
comply with its recommendation of
payment of interim relief of Rs 1 lakh
each to the next of kin of three persons
who died in a firing incident on 3
November 2002 in front of the Langkhasi
Police outpost of Tinsukia district. The
magisterial inquiry submitted clearly
26
showed that the entire incident took place
because of lack of command and control
and an irresponsible behaviour of the
Sub-inspector of Langkhasi police station
to tackle a simple law and order situation.
Though the Sub-Inspector was placed
under suspension, no information
regarding the prosecution of the culprits
was given. 45
On 4 November 2003, the Assam
government appointed Justice (Retd) J N
Sharma to investigate 11 cases of alleged
secret killings of the relatives of the
members of armed opposition groups in
different parts of Assam during the
previous Assam Gano Parishad
government’s tenure. Earlier, Justice
(Retd) Meera Sharma resigned in 2003 and
Justice Sharma restarted the inquiry. On 23
February 2004, the Commission issued a
notice requesting memoranda to be
submitted before the Commission’s office
at Kumarpara. 46 By the end of September
2004, the Commission was still recording
the statements of the witnesses, relatives
of the victims and concerned police
officers. 47
V. Ethnic conflicts
Assam was plagued by unprecedented
ethnic conflicts especially in Karbi
Anglong district. While the control over
land, resources and establishment of
homeland based on ethnicity are some of
the root causes; the clear involvement of
both State and non-State actors had
exacerbated the conflicts leading to loss of
lives and internal displacement.