The Assam Christian Forum on Thursday demanded a public probe and justice for those who died during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the state.

Forum spokesperson Allen Brooks said, “Today we met Axom Nagarik Samaj general secretary Paresh Malakar and discussed issues related to the deaths during the protests. We discussed the possibility of a public inquiry and in this regard, we will meet other people, including several prominent senior citizens.”

He said the whole issue was not just limited to the deaths but getting them justice and the people of the state should come together to give them justice.

He said the issue was not about the religion of the victims but about the state of the society and the killing of children, which can never be justified.

“The forum proposes a public inquiry by a panel which should include a judge, a police officer and an academician. Once the inquiry is completed, the public should come out with a white paper on the killings rather than wait for the government’s report,” he said.

Brooks said the demand had arisen because there has been no proper inquiry from the government’s side on the deaths.

“The Assam Human Rights Commission had asked the state to submit a report on those killed in alleged police action during protests by January 10 but till now there has been no report submitted. We want to conduct a proper inquiry on the issue ourselves and then the white paper would be published by the public,” he added.

He said though the government has said it will conduct an inquiry, it will only inquire into things like law and order or the violence but it will not enquire into the deaths.

On Sam Stafford’s death, Brooks said there are several disturbing things about the incident.

“How can such a cold-blooded killing take place? The post-mortem report revealed that Sam was shot from the back and he was allegedly beaten up as well. These things need to be verified,” he added.