{ "record_id": "CW-2026-0002", "status": "current", "merged_id": "CWC-0032", "alias_merged_ids": [ "CWC-1437" ], "display_title": "Kokrajhar Man vs The Union of India and 7 Ors", "display_title_redacted": "Kokrajhar Man vs The Union of India and 7 Ors", "state": "Assam", "district": "Kokrajhar", "district_at_time": null, "city_town": null, "police_station_or_unit": "Joint Assam Police-Army (7th Sikh LI) ambush party, Bismuri/Kokrajhar", "court": "Gauhati High Court", "court_as_verified": "Gauhati High Court", "bench": null, "case_title": "Kokrajhar Man vs The Union of India and 7 Ors", "case_number": "WP(C)/1098/2017", "citation": "2026:GAU-AS:418-DB", "judges": [ "Kalyan Rai Surana", "Rajesh Mazumdar" ], "judgment_date": "2026-01-08", "date_precision": "day", "judgment_year": 2026, "incident_date": "2016-12-28", "incident_year": 2016, "category": "Other", "admin_category": "brutality", "admin_subcategory": "fake_encounter_extrajudicial_killing", "subcategory": "fake_encounter_extrajudicial_killing", "subcategory_display": "fake encounter extrajudicial killing", "protest_override_heuristic": false, "outcome_type": "adverse_finding_compensation", "sections": [ "Constitution of India Art. 21", "Constitution of India Art. 226" ], "officers": [], "officer_count": 1, "victims": [ { "name": null, "age": null, "gender": "male", "descriptor": "Kokrajhar man" } ], "victims_redacted": null, "anonymised": false, "victim_count": 1, "sentence_type": "compensation_only", "sentence_max_years": null, "compensation_inr": 2500000, "force": "state_police", "primary_source_url": "https://indiankanoon.org/doc/120284705/", "secondary_sources": [ "https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/display-20-653766.pdf", "https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/gauhati-high-court/gauhati-high-court-grants-25-lakh-compensation-family-man-killed-during-police-operation-521769" ], "summary": "The Gauhati High Court held that the killing of cultivator a Kokrajhar man in a joint police-Army ambush near Bismuri outpost on 28 December 2016 was an avoidable encounter infringing Article 21. While stopping short of calling the ambush staged, the Court found laxity on intelligence inputs and a sudden, hurried, undocumented ambush that created the exchange of fire in which the deceased was shot. As palliative relief, without prejudice to other remedies, it directed the Union of India and the State of Assam to pay Rs 5,00,000 each to the widow (Rs 10,00,000) and Rs 2,50,000 each to every surviving child (Rs 5,00,000 per child), within one month. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.", "summary_verified": "The Gauhati High Court held that the killing of cultivator a Kokrajhar man in a joint police-Army ambush near Bismuri outpost on 28 December 2016 was an avoidable encounter infringing Article 21. While stopping short of calling the ambush staged, the Court found laxity on intelligence inputs and a sudden, hurried, undocumented ambush that created the exchange of fire in which the deceased was shot. As palliative relief, without prejudice to other remedies, it directed the Union of India and the State of Assam to pay Rs 5,00,000 each to the widow (Rs 10,00,000) and Rs 2,50,000 each to every surviving child (Rs 5,00,000 per child), within one month.", "court_quote": "The laxity displayed while acting on the intelligence inputs and the sudden and hurried decision to lay an undocumented ambush played a vital role in creating a situation which led to exchange of fire between the deceased and the police, leading to his death. We stop short of concluding that the ambush was laid to achieve predicted outcomes.", "court_quote_para": "33", "confidence": "high", "verdict": "accept", "verdict_note": "Avoidable encounter violated Art 21; Rs 25L total (agent missed widow's 10L).", "verification_status": "V2", "verification_badge": "V2 · Externally reported", "tier_badge": "Externally reported", "tier": "Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded", "tier_history": [ "Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded" ], "allegations": [ { "category": "Other", "primary": true, "position": "Material fact supported", "position_explainer": "Reliable material supports a specifically documented fact relevant to that allegation, not necessarily the full allegation, causation, intent, unlawfulness, or responsibility.", "official_finding_relation": "supports allegation" } ], "institutional_response": [ { "date": "2026-01-08", "action_type": "Order issued", "status": "Concluded", "authority": "Gauhati High Court", "independence": "External", "legal_effect": "Binding", "description": "The Gauhati High Court recorded adverse findings against police personnel and ordered Rs 2,500,000.", "disposition": "Compensation ordered · Supports allegation (for the compensated wrong only)", "source": "2026:GAU-AS:418-DB", "recheck": "Not yet re-checked." } ], "later_proceedings": [], "final_outcome_url": null, "followup_history": [ { "date": "2026-09-19", "scope": "Round-8 full re-verification: published record re-checked against the judgment text (outcome, officers, quote, key facts) plus methodology-compliance pass", "method": "skills-guided adversarial re-verification of the published record against the judgment text (reverify/t1-*/adversarial-8.jsonl)", "result": "holds", "corrections_applied": [] } ], "followup_status": "checked", "last_checked": "2026-09-19", "link_checked_per_url": [ { "url": "https://indiankanoon.org/doc/120284705/", "link_checked": null }, { "url": "https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/display-20-653766.pdf", "link_checked": null }, { "url": "https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/gauhati-high-court/gauhati-high-court-grants-25-lakh-compensation-family-man-killed-during-police-operation-521769", "link_checked": null } ], "source_assessment": { "established": null, "basis": null }, "v3_basis": null, "publication_basis": null, "reviews": [], "retracted": { "is_retracted": false }, "fidelity_checked": true, "verified_by": [ "chunk-27", "chunk-43" ], "merged_case_id": "ASSAM-019", "officers_named_public": 0, "record_flag": null, "service": "police", "watch": "babuwatch" }