A committee headed by Assam Chief Secretary has been constituted to identify the ‘erring officers’ responsible for the bulldozing of the house of an arson accused by Batadraba police last year.
Advocate General of Assam D Saikia told the Gauhati High Court on Tuesday that the committee led by the chief secretary will “find out who is at fault” and that the government will provide compensation, “if it is to be given”, within a period of 15 days.
On May 21, 2022, the Batadraba police station was torched by a mob, following which six houses were pulled down by the district and police authorities. On Tuesday, while hearing of a suo moto case on the demolition of the house of one of the arson accused, a division bench headed by Chief Justice R M Chhaya observed that it expects the state government to compensate the people affected by the “illegal action”.
“Upon such an assurance and in view of the fact that the state is now seized of the matter, it is expected that the State shall take an appropriate decision for compensating the persons affected by the illegal action of the officer. Report of the same shall be produced before this court,” states the order issued by the High Court.
The court closed proceedings in the case “with liberty to revive merely by filing a note”.
In a hearing in the case in November, Chief Justice Chhaya had come down heavily on the superintendent of police (SP) stating that police cannot bulldoze anyone’s house without permission under the guise of investigation.
