The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to probe allegations of 80 alleged fake encounter deaths in the state between May and December 2021.

The court passed the directions while disposing of an appeal filed by advocate Arif Md. Yeasin Jwadder, challenging the refusal of Gauhati High Court to entertain his PIL petition in which he had alleged that 80 fake encounters took place in Assam between May and December 2021.

According to him, 28 people were killed and 48 injured during the encounters. It was alleged that the police justified the actions on the ground that the escape attempts of the accused prompted them to open fire in purported self-defence, resulting in death and injuries.

A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N. Kotiswar Singh directed: "We deem it appropriate to entrust the inquiry of this matter to the AHRC for advancing it to its logical conclusion. The order dated January 12, 2022, passed by the full bench of the AHRC, whereby it had disposed of this issue, is thus set aside. The matter is directed to be reinstated on the board of the AHRC for necessary inquiry into the allegations independently and expeditiously, in accordance with law.

"To that end, we direct the AHRC to issue a public notice inviting all individuals who claim to be aggrieved (victims and their family members) by the alleged police encounters to come forward and furnish relevant information or evidence before the AHRC."