By IANS,
Guwahati : The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Thursday recommended to the union home ministry to pay Rs.5 lakh each to the families of five people killed in an alleged staged shootout in Assam in 2009.
The NHRC in a statement also asked the ministry to pay the money within eight weeks and sought a compliance report along with proof of payment.
It said it was not provided proof that any of the five men had either handled or fired the weapons allegedly recovered from the scene.
The panel also said there was no explanation by the ministry “to show that there was no violation of human rights in the incident”.
The alleged incident took place at Akabasti village near Rangapara in Sonitpur district April 19, 2009. The five victims were identified as Prabhat Basumatary, Deithan Basumatary, Krishna Basumatary, Junish Ali and Babul Ali.
The NHRC took suo motu cognizance of the matter in 2011 on the basis of information given on the Assam Police website that five militants were killed in the shootout with Assam Rifles personnel.