The Gauhati High Court has held that the police firing during a protest at Maibang Railway Station in Assam on January 25, 2018, resulted in violation of the fundamental rights of the victims and directed the State to pay compensation to the deceased protesters and those who suffered serious injuries.
A Division Bench of Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice N. Unni Krishnan Nair found that although the protesters had initially turned the peaceful agitation violent by pelting stones at the police, the firing by police personnel from the railway platform resulted in injuries to protesters who were on the railway track, including bullet injuries above the waist. The Court held that, in view of the injuries suffered, a case of violation of fundamental rights had been made out.
The Court was dealing with a petition arising from the firing incident in which two persons died and several others were injured. The petitioner had sought an independent inquiry, alleging that the police had resorted to excessive and indiscriminate firing. Three inquiries had previously been conducted, including a One Man Enquiry Commission constituted by the Assam Government.
The Court declined to order a fresh independent inquiry, noting that the incident had occurred in 2018, the existing inquiry reports were on record and investigations in the two criminal cases had already concluded, with a charge-sheet filed in one case and a final report submitted in the other.
At the same time, the Bench held that the State could be directed to provide compensation under the Court’s public law jurisdiction for an established violation of fundamental rights. Relying on Supreme Court precedents, the Court reiterated that sovereign immunity cannot be invoked as a defence where fundamental rights have been violated by State authorities.
The Court accordingly directed the State of Assam to pay Rs 3 lakh each to the families of deceased protesters and Rs 2 lakh each to seriously injured victims. The compensation is to be paid in addition to any amount already sanctioned by the Government and released within three months.
