Life sentence of 7 army men in fake encounter case in Assam

October 15: A Major General, two Colonels and four other soldiers given life imprisonment after court martial. They were convicted for the extra-judicial killing of five youth activists in Assam in 1994. A Summary General Court Martial (SGCM) of the Indian Army has convicted the seven personnel in a 24-year-old fake encounter case. The judgment, pronounced by the court martial will have to be confirmed by “higher competent authorities” like the Eastern Army Command in Kolkata and the Army headquarters in New Delhi.

Major General A.K. Lal, Colonel Thomas Mathew, Colonel R.S. Sibiren, Captain Dilip Singh, Captain Jagdeo Singh, Naik Albindar Singh and Naik Shivendar Singh have been awarded life imprisonment for their involvement in a fake encounter case in Assam’s Tinsukia district dating back to 1994.

Nine youths (AASU acticists) were picked up by the Army from different areas of Tinsukia district on February 18, 1994 on suspicion that they were involved in the killing of a top tea garden executive. The soldiers killed five of the youths in a fake encounter, branding them as ULFA militants a few days after the incident, while releasing the other four.

The then AASU vice-president and now BJP leader in the state Jagadish Bhuyan had fought for justice single-handedly in the Guwahati high court, which led to a CBI probe in the case. Chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal was AASU president at that time.