The mother of a 19-year-old youth killed in police firing during a clash in Assam’s Goalpara district has appealed to the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court for an independent judicial probe, alleging that the firing was “unprovoked” and an “excessive, disproportionate use of arms” by security personnel.
In a three-page letter dated August 4, addressed to Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar, Nachiran Bibi of Ashudubi village under Krishnai police station said she had “lost trust” in the police’s ability to conduct an impartial investigation into her son Sakowar Ali’s death on July 17. The letter came to light on Monday.
“I am requesting your lordships for an independent judicial probe into the police firing,” she wrote, contending that her son’s killing occurred without justification.
The incident took place during tensions that followed an eviction drive on July 12 to clear around 1,038 bighas of reserve forest land, affecting 1,080 families. According to the state government, the clash erupted at Paikan on July 17 when a group, allegedly instigated by Congress members, attacked police and forest personnel with “stones, lathis, daos (Naga sword) and spears”.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma described it as a “barbaric attack” on officials. The violence left one civilian dead — identified as Ali — and three others injured, including a 12-year-old. Twenty-one forest and police personnel were also hurt.
Police have since arrested 21 people in connection with the incident under multiple charges, including unlawful assembly, rioting, assault on public servants, attempt to murder, mischief and offences under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, as well as trespass into reserve forest land.
The July 17 clash was the latest in a series of evictions across Assam since June 19, with at least nine operations displacing more than 5,500 families, mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims.
In her letter, Bibi said her family had lived in the affected area for “seven decades” before receiving an eviction notice from the forest department on June 18. She claimed that by July 10, they had dismantled their roof in preparation to leave. On July 12, police demolished homes in the village, but some residents stayed in tents while searching for new shelter.
On July 17, she alleged, forest and police personnel returned and began using an excavator to cut off the connecting Ashudubi-Khardang Road — the only access route to the village.
“Blocking the road would have meant tremendous hardship for the evicted people who were preparing to shift. Local elders requested the officials not to block the road, but they refused, leading to a verbal argument. Soon a crowd gathered,” the letter stated.
Bibi said her sons, Sakowar and Noser Ali, went to the site “out of curiosity” but soon the police resorted to a lathi-charge, followed by firing into the crowd.
“My son, Sakowar Ali, sustained bullet injuries above his neck and died on the spot,” she wrote. The family learnt of his death from an uncle who saw the body at Goalpara Civil Hospital.
She said the post-mortem was completed by 4.30pm, after which police took the body to Kismatpur Kabrsthan in Goalpara for burial.
“Our family wanted my son to be buried at Kharidhara Kabrsthan, Krishnai, but the police refused, saying the burial could not take place anywhere at Krishnai. We were compelled to comply under stressful circumstances,” she stated.
Bibi’s appeal to the court seeks not only a judicial inquiry but also accountability for what she describes as a breach of basic rights during and after the firing.