Ruckus in House after govt says no cop encounter in Assam

GUWAHATI: The Assam assembly was adjourned for an hour on Saturday following a heated debate after the state government informed the house that there has been not even a single police encounter in the state but suspected criminals killed or injured in police firing when they tried to escape from police net.
Parliamentary affairs minister Pijush Hazarika, replying on behalf of CM Himanta Biswa Sarma who holds the home portfolio, said there have been 26 instances of clashes between police personnel and criminals and militants in the last two years, which resulted in the death of 30, while 12 others were injured.
As Hazarika was replying to a set of queries by AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam regarding various crimes, encounters and home department related issues, a heated exchange of words started between the treasury and opposition bench members. The opposition members questioned the credibility of the information given to the house. Speaker Biswajit Daimary cautioned legislators on the choice of words as the opposition members launched a scathing attack on Hazarika.
“Crossing limits and use of unparliamentary words are seen in the house at times, which is disrupting the proceedings,” Daimary said, while trying to pacify the members.
The minister also informed the house that since 2021, a total of 85,994 police complaints have been lodged regarding murder, rape, cruelty against women, theft, dacoity, land grabbing, human trafficking and other crimes. Altogether 2,180 incidences of murder, 3,181 rape, 19,191 cases of cruelty against women and 26,905 theft cases have been reported during last two years. The house was informed that 367 cases of dacoity, 219 cases of land grabbing and 4,607 complaints on drug-related cases have been lodged with the police during the period. Altogether 252 human trafficking cases were lodged with police since 2021, the minister informed.
On police modernization initiatives, the government replied that it has already undertaken measures to constitute five commando battalions, while under the Moitri scheme, the state government has given approval to construct 119 police stations.