The Gauhati High Court has registered a case based on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking an impartial probe into the alleged custodial death of a fish trader in central Assam’s Nagaon district.
The death of Safikul Islam, a 39-year-old fish trader, on May 21 led to a mob setting fire to the Batadrava police station. The local authorities retaliated by bulldozing the “illegally-built” houses of at least five people found involved in the arson.
The PIL petition was filed by lawyers Anowar Hussain Laskar and Zunaid Khalid. It recounted the police claim that that Islam was found lying on a public road in a drunken state and brought to the police station but was declared dead the next day.
