The Supreme Court was on Tuesday informed by the Assam government that the 2014 guidelines for investigating police encounters were duly followed in the state and unnecessary targeting of security forces was demoralising. Following the submission, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh reserved the verdict on a plea seeking an independent investigation over 171 alleged fake police encounters in Assam between May, 2021 and August, 2022. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Assam government, said the Supreme Court's guidelines for the investigation of police encounters in the 2014 case of PUCL v. Maharashtra were being "followed to the hilt". Mehta added, "All the necessary protocols are followed and safeguards taken. If they (security personnel) are guilty, they need to be punished but if they are not guilty, then they need to be protected by the state. Unnecessary targeting may have a demoralising effect on security forces especially the conditions they have