Top court seeks response of Centre, Assam, Meghalaya

The Supreme Court sought a response from the Centre as well as Assam and Meghalaya governments on a petition filed by Kaushik Phukan, the son of a missing mediator who was reportedly working on bringing truce between the Government of India and separatist outfit United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) since 1991.

A bench of justices LN Rao and MM Shantanagoudar sought the response after senior advocate Geeta Luthra, appearing for Rebati’s son, said the family has moved the apex court because he was in touch with central agencies, besides state authorities. She said the family has received assurance from Assam chief minister but the need to move the top court arose because two states are involved in it.

The petition has quoted ULFA chief Paresh Baruah saying that Rebati may be in custody of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) or the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) or Military Intelligence or the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as they “have a rivalry amongst them”. The SC had on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea seeking to trace Rebati who has gone missing since April 22.

The petitioner wants the court to direct the authorities, including Assam government, to produce him before the court.

Luthra also asked for a CBI investigation or a probe by an independent agency or a special investigation team. The petition claimed no proactive steps have been taken till date by the police to trace his father. A formal FIR was lodged but no efforts have been made to trace Rebati, he alleged. According to him, his father had attended a “secret meeting” with a retired bureaucrat on April 20. The meeting was to discuss a “memorandum to negotiate with Baruah, ULFA chief.” The memorandum was to be submitted to the PM.

NEW DELHI: