Annual Report 2013-14 4.97 The Commission took cognizance of the incident and directed the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India, New Delhi, DGP, Assam, District Magistrate, Sonitpur and Superintendent of Police, Sonitpur to take appropriate action with regard to the investigation of the case as per the guidelines of the Commission and submit relevant reports. The Director General of Police, Assam was also asked to explain as to why intimation about the said incident has not been sent to the Commission as per the extant guidelines. 4.98 The Inspector General of Police (Logistics), Assam forwarded relevant reports and also regretted for non-submission of intimation about the said incident to the Commission as per its guidelines. 4.99 The Commission also received a detailed report from the Assam Rifles, and noted that there were very substantial differences on points of facts between what was claimed therein and the reports sent by the civil authorities. 4.100 Upon consideration of the report, the Commission observed that firstly, the Assam Rifles reported that all five men escaped from the house, with the encounter taking place in the adjoining fields, where Captain Kamal Gautam killed three of the militants and Major M. Zabiulla the other two. However, three villagers, including the lady of the house in which these five men had taken shelter, told the magisterial enquiry that the shooting took place inside the house. While the two neighbours were not allowed to approach the house, and might therefore not have known where exactly the shooting was taking place, Smt. Jeleka Khatun, who was in the kitchen of the house, would have known if it was outside her house. 4.101 The Commission further observed that there was nothing to show that Smt. Jeleka Khatun was not an innocent housewife, whose home some strangers had visited that evening. The Commission assumed, therefore, that her testimony would be objective. She did not tell the Magistrate that the men were armed or that they had other materiel with them. It was important because the Assam Rifles reported having recovered not only five small arms, but also 5 kg of explosives, 10 detonators, a Chinese grenade and 140 rounds of live AK 47 ammunition from these men. These could not have been hidden. 4.102 The Commission also observed that inquest carried out from 10.40 a.m. on the 20 April 2009, the morning after the incident, recorded that i) one of the men was wearing underwear and a jacket; ii) the second man was wearing a “long pant”, a T-shirt and underwear; iii) the third man was wearing a singlet and a lungi; iv) the fourth man was naked but had been covered by a lungi; and v) the fifth man was wearing a yellow shirt and underwear. 4.103 The Commission further observed that with only one man fully dressed, two found only in underwear, one in a lungi and the fifth naked, it would have been impossible for them men to have carried the arms, ammunition and explosives that the Assam Rifles claimed to NHRC | 45

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