Jitul Deka v. The State of Assam and 9 Ors

ORDER

03.01.2023 (R.M. Chhaya, CJ)

By way of this Public Interest Litigation, the petitioner has approached this Court and has inter alia prayed for the following reliefs: "In the premises aforesaid, it is respectfully prayed that Your Lordships may graciously be pleased to admit this petition, call for records and issue a Rule calling upon the respondents to show cause as to why a Writ in the nature of Mandamus and/or a writ of like nature should not be issued transferring and handing over the investigation of the FIRs registered in the State of Assam and Mizoram to CBI and NIA i.e. the Proforma Respondent no. 9 and 10 under supervision of this Hon'ble Court. And upon cause and causes that may be shown by the parties, and after hearing the parties, be pleased to make the Rule absolute and/or pass any other order or orders as Your Lordships may Page No.# 3/4 deem fit and proper. AND Pending disposal of the instant petition, Your Lordships may be further pleased to call detailed reports from both Assam and Mizoram Govt. on the unfortunate incident of firing causing death of 7 (seven) Assam Police Personnel and grievous injuries sustained by more than 70 persons which includes civilian and Assam Police personnel and/or pass any other order or orders as Your Lordships may deem fit and proper."

¶2Heard Mr. R. B. Gohain, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. D. Saikia, learned Advocate General, Assam, assisted by Ms. R. Baruah, learned counsel appearing for the State of Assam and its authorities, and Mr. D. Das, learned Advocate General, Mizoram, appearing for the State of Mizoram and its authorities.

¶3On notice being issued by this Court, the respondent authorities have filed their affidavits and have brought on record the factual matrix arising in this PIL. As far as the issue involved in this PIL is concerned, which was the reason for the incident that occurred on 26.07.2021, is the border dispute between the State of Assam and the State of Mizoram.

¶4Learned Advocate Generals appearing for the State of Assam and the State of Mizoram have stated that after the incident of 26.07.2021, some senior Cabinet Ministers of the Government of Assam personally visited the State of Mizoram to meet their counterpart and, after the meeting of the senior ministers of both the States, the tension at the border has eased out and normalcy has prevailed. It is also stated that all the trucks and other vehicles stranded at the border have started movement freely and the Ministry of Railway has also restored the railway track and presently there is free movement of railway in the State of Mizoram. It is further stated that even the Travel Advisory dated 29.07.2021, which was issued by the Government of Assam, has been withdrawn and presently there is free movement of vehicular traffic between the two States and no major incident of violence is reported after 26.07.2021. Learned Advocate Generals appearing for the State of Assam and the State of Mizoram have also stated that both the State Government are making endeavours to amicably Page No.# 4/4 resolve the inter-State border dispute between Assam and Mizoram.

¶5Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has also agreed that tension at the border has eased out and normalcy has prevailed and that railway and vehicular traffic have started free movement. It is also not disputed by the learned counsel for the petitioner that no major incident of violence is reported after 26.07.2021.

¶6In view of the aforesaid, this Court is of the opinion that the broader issue arising out of this PIL has been taken care of by both the respondent States of Assam and Mizoram and as on date peace has prevailed.

¶7Mr. R. B. Gohain, learned counsel for the petitioner further submitted that the State respondents should be directed to compensate the kith and kin of the victims by awarding appropriate compensation, especially of those who have lost their lives in the police firing. At this juncture, it is appropriate to note that the wife of one of the victims has also filed a separate writ petition, being WP(C) 4485/2021, wherein the petitioner has prayed for identical relief as prayed for in the present PIL. Learned counsel for the petitioner in WP(C) 4485/2021 has pointed out that the present PIL was filed before filing of the writ petition.

¶8In view of the aforesaid, we deem it fit to close the present proceedings with a clarification that disposal of this PIL shall not in any manner affect the rights of the petitioner in WP(C) 4485/2021. The issue of compensation is kept open, which may be dealt with by this Court in WP(C) 4485/2021 independently. With the aforesaid observations the present PIL stands closed.

JUDGE CHIEF JUSTICE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/4 GAHC010116872021 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oPIL/44/2021o JITULoDEKAo S/OoKARUNAoDEKA,oR/OoDADARAoP.O.oDADARAoP.S.oHAJO,oKAMRUPo ASSAM,oPIN-781104 VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo9oORSo REP.oBYoCHIEFoSECRETARYoGOVT.oOFoASSAM,oDISPUR,oGUWAHATI 2:THEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARY oTOoTHEoGOVT.oOFoASSAMoHOMEoANDoPOLITICALoDEPTT.oDISPUR oGUWAHATI 3:THEoDIRECTORoGENERALoOFoPOLICE oASSAM oULUBARI oGUWAHATI 4:THEoSUPERINTENDENToOFoPOLICE oCACHAR oASSAM 5:THEoOFFICERoINoCHARGE oDHOLAIoPOLICEoSTATION oCACHAR 6:THEoSTATEoOFoMIZORAM oREP.oBYoTHEoCHIEFoSECRETARY oNEWoSECRETARIATEoCOMPLEX oAIZWAL-796001 7:THEoDIRECTORoGENERALoOFoPOLICEo Page No.# 2/4 MIZORAM KHATLA KAWN KHATLA AIZWAL-796001 8:THE SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE KOLASIB DISTRICT MIZORAM 9:THE CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION REP. BY THE DIRECTOR BLOCK NO. 3 CGO COMPLEX LODHI ROAD NEW DELHI-110003 10:THE NATIONAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY CGO COMPLEX LODHI ROAD NEW DELHI-11000 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. A GOYAL Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE SOUMITRA SAIKIA