SC Allows CBI To Be Impleaded In Assam Custodial Deaths Case Of Three Hmar Youths

The Supreme Court of India has allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to be impleaded as a party in a case concerning the alleged custodial deaths of three Hmar tribal youths in Assam in July 2024, offering fresh hope to the victims’ families seeking an independent probe.

The families had approached the top court on 26 February 2026 through a Special Leave Petition (SLP), challenging a 15 September 2025 order of the Gauhati High Court, which had dismissed their plea for an independent investigation.

The case pertains to the deaths of three men—Joshua from Manipur, and Lalbiekkung Hmar and Lallungawi Hmar—who were allegedly killed while in the custody of the Assam Police on 16 July 2024. 

At the time, Cachar Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta had claimed that the trio were “armed militants” involved in a drug trafficking network operating out of the Bhuban Hills, and that they were apprehended with weapons in an autorickshaw.

The news was also shared by the Assam chief minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma in a post on X. 

However, the families contested this version, alleging that the three men were victims of an “extra-judicial execution”.

Alleged videos of the incident circulated widely on X, further intensifying the Hmar community’s demand for justice and raising fresh questions about the authenticity of the encounter. 

One video purportedly shows police personnel interrogating three men inside an autorickshaw. In another, a policeman is seen escorting one of the detained men, his hands tied, to a secluded location, accompanied by three individuals dressed in black T-shirts.

Relatives of 19-year-old Lallungawi have also pointed to inconsistencies, noting that the bodies seen in later photographs were dressed in vests and camouflage gear—clothing that does not match what the men were wearing at the time of their arrest in the autorickshaw video.

The Assam government had stated that 80 individuals accused of crimes died either in police custody or before being formally remanded between May 10, 2021, and November 19, 2025.

Sarma, shared these figures in the Assembly in response to a query by Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi in November 2025. According to him, 39 accused died in police custody, while 41 died before formal remand during this period. He also noted that 183 individuals sustained bullet injuries or other forms of harm.

The highest number of such deaths was recorded in 2021, with 31 cases.

What Did The Guwahati High Court Say?

Families finally moved the Guwahati high court seeking an independent investigation in the same year. Their plea relied on video evidence,  postmortem findings, which recorded signs of severe physical assault, including “extensive bruising” and injuries to private parts, prior to death by bullet wounds. The reports, copies of which Outlook has seen, described the injuries as “antemortem” and “homicidal” in all three cases.

The petitioners also alleged procedural lapses, stating that complaints filed by the families were not converted into FIRs. 

While hearing the matter, the high court then acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations but declined to order an independent probe, noting that the case was already under investigation by an official from another district. The court observed that the circumstances were not entirely clear and said it “cannot be ruled out conclusively” at this stage that the deaths amounted to extra-judicial killings. At the same time, it remarked that it was “unfathomable” why any investigating agency would commit a “cold-blooded murder in a random manner.”

The high court also refrained from commenting on digital evidence, citing the ongoing investigation, and said there was no basis to presume bias or shielding of officials before dismissing the plea on 15th September, 2025. 

While pleading before the top court on March 17, the petition sought a court-monitored probe by an officer from outside Assam, registration of an FIR, prosecution of the police personnel involved, including the Cachar SP, and one crore rupees compensation for each victim’s family.

With the Supreme Court now permitting the CBI to be made a respondent, the matter is set to be heard further on whether an independent probe by the central agency should be ordered. 

“For now, they have been impleaded as a respondent,” a lawyer aware of the proceedings said, adding that it will be for the top court to decide if a CBI investigation is ultimately warranted.

“It has brought us some hope,” a relative of Lallungawi Hmar said.