Those who spread misleading and fake information on social media about the encounter between police and suspected insurgents in Assam's Cachar are likely to face legal action, police sources have said.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had yesterday in a post on X announced the police killed "three Hmar militants from Assam and neighbouring Manipur", and also recovered two AK-47 assault rifles and other firearms. Three policemen were injured in the firing by insurgents.
Soon after the police gave a statement on the encounter, some social media handles started spreading "disinformation" about a "fake encounter" to malign the police, sources said, adding they are monitoring the handles and will consider taking legal action.
Assam Director General of Police GP Singh in a post on X today asked people to refer to the media briefing by the Cachar Superintendent of Police about the sequence of events "leading to the death of terrorists in the exchange of fire".
"We would continue to scour each inch of Assam to keep it safe. It's after more than three decades that there has been no death of civilians or security personnel during 2023 and 2024 till date in militant violence. We wish to keep it that way," Mr Singh said in the post on X.
The Cachar police in the statement on Wednesday said based on intelligence inputs, they stopped an autorickshaw carrying three men going towards Bhuban Hills. Lallungawi Hmar, 21; Lalbikung Hmar, 33, and Joshua, 35, were arrested with one AK-47 assault rifle and other firearms.
The police said the three men told them during interrogation that more of them, heavily armed, are hiding around Bhuban Hills "to carry out some subversive activities in the Assam and Manipur border areas."
Later, when a police team went towards Bhuban Hills along with the three arrested insurgents to pinpoint the hideout, they came under fire from suspected insurgents hiding in the hills, after which the police team including commandos returned fire, the Cachar police said in the statement.
The three arrested insurgents were hit during the encounter, and were taken to hospital, where the doctors declared them dead, the police said.
On social media, however, some purported visuals of the encounter was shared by many handles alleging it was a "fake encounter".
"... Need serious investigation on this stage managed killings by Assam Police... This will never be acceptable in any form..." an X user, @Khulkonns_3382, posted.
Another X user, @ngulminthang, said, "... Kuki civilians can be branded as militants and murdered by police through staged fake encounters... India will pay the price for this persecution of Kuki-Zo people."
The Hmar Students Association, and the Manipur-based civil society group Kuki Inpi in separate statements condemned what they called "cold-blooded murder" and "brutal custodial deaths" of the men belonging to the Hmar tribe.
"Despite the Assam Police's claims of an encounter where three Hmar militants were killed in an early morning operation, the incident is rather a clear case of extrajudicial killing," the Kuki Inpi said in the statement.
Assam's Cachar district is a neighbour of Manipur's Jiribam district, where the Meitei community and the Hmar tribes had clashed last month.
