According to police, Taffazul Hussain died after falling into a pond while trying to escape from custody.
A division bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising justice Manash Ranjan Pathak and justice Soumitra Saikia on Monday, September 16 issued notices to the Assam government in connection with a writ petition filed for alleged custodial death of Taffazul Hussain at Dhing, Nagaon, On August 23.
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The petition was filed by Taffazul’s 74-year-old father Abdul Awal seeking compensation and judicial inquiry for the death of his son.
The next date of hearing has been fixed for November 4 for filing of affidavit by Assam government, advocate for Abdul Awal, Zunaid Khalid, said.
Tafazzul, a resident of Barhheti village in Nagaon district, was arrested as one of the prime accused of the Dhing rape incident.
According to the petition, Tafazzul was allegedly forcefully picked up by a patrol party from Dhing Police Station, accompanied by the Gaon Bura (village headman) of Barhheti, along with the President and Secretary of the local Village Defence Force. The family alleges that Tafazzul was taken without any prior notice or explanation and was subsequently detained in the lock-up of Batadrava Police Station for the entire night.
The situation took a turn the next day when reports surfaced of Tafazzul being physically tortured and beaten while in custody at Dhing Police Station. The petitioner claims that this brutal treatment ultimately led to his son's death, a claim that has been met with widespread condemnation from human rights activists.
Further, Abdul Awal claims that his son was wrongfully arrested due to a mistaken identity. According to the petition, the police had previously made a photograph of a suspect in the Dhing rape case viral on news outlets and social media. The petitioner contends that his son was mistakenly identified as this suspect and that this grave error resulted in his unlawful detention and subsequent death in custody.
To make matters worse, Abdul claims that after Tafazzul’s death, the police allegedly circulated images of his body on various news channels and social media platforms, reinforcing the false association with the rape case. This led to significant public outrage against the petitioner’s family, with local residents refusing to allow Tafazzul’s burial in the village graveyard. Abdul Awal and his family are reportedly enduring severe mental anguish and hardship due to the incident.
Abdul Awal’s petition highlights several legal violations, including breaches of Sections 47(a), (b), (f), and 48(a), (b) of the Assam Police Act, 2007. These sections pertain to the duty of police officers to act without bias and to prevent custodial violence. Furthermore, the petition seeks punishment for the police officials under Section 98(a) and (b) of the same Act, which provides for stringent penalties in cases of custodial misconduct and death.
The petition also underscores the non-compliance with key guidelines issued by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on custodial deaths. The NHRC has laid down specific procedures to ensure accountability in such incidents, which, according to the petitioner, were blatantly ignored. Moreover, the petition cites a failure to adhere to Section 196 of the BNSS 2023, a recent statute mandating judicial inquiry in all cases of custodial death.
