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Regular-article-logo Monday, 23 December 2024

Cash, job for ‘custody death’ victim’s kin

Family members vow not to accept the man's body till there is some action on their demands

Umanand Jaiswal Guwahati Published 17.06.20, 01:54 AM

(Shutterstock)

A protest in a village in Jorhat district in Assam over the death of a man in the custody of security personnel has led the state government to announce several measures, including providing a job and cash relief to the victim’s family.

Leela Bora, mother of the deceased Jayanta Bora, 30, had filed an FIR on Monday afternoon at Borholla police station, 7km from her Kakodungahabi residence, seeking justice and compensation.

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Family members and villagers staged a protest near Jayanta’s residence on Tuesday vowing not to accept his body till there was some action on their demands. The local unit of All Assam Students’ Union had also staged a road blockade on Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday afternoon, state ministers Atul Bora and Jogen Mohan and Jorhat MP Tapan Gogoi visited Jayanta’s residence on the instruction of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and convinced the family members to accept the victim’s body. The trio stayed back for the cremation.

The Jorhat MP told The Telegraph that a fast-track court will be set up to probe the incident after an investigation by senior official Lalit Gogoi, who will submit his report within a week. “A decision has been taken to suspend three policemen in connection with the incident and a compensation of Rs 6 lakh given to the family, besides a government job,” he said.

Jorhat DC Roshni Aparanji Korati told reporters on Monday that personnel of army’ 224 Field Regiment carried out a search operation with the help of police in Kakodungahabi following information about the presence of an Ulfa (Independent)/NSCN (I-M) cadre. During the operation, they picked up Jayanta.

Korati said Jayanta was taken to Borholla police station. “The army team reported that Jayanta was feeling uneasy. He was taken to Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared brought dead. I have ordered a magisterial inquiry,” Korati said.

The Jorhat hospital is around 40km from Borholla.

Borholla police station has registered a case under Sections 302, 120B and 34 of the IPC in this connection. Muhidhar Taye is the investigating officer of the case, police said.

Pallab Saikia, a schoolteacher from the village, hoped the victim will get justice and such incidents are not repeated. “If the family is happy with the assurances we have nothing to say except that justice should be delivered,” he said.

Condemning the “brutal killing”, former chief minister Tarun Gogoi sought a judicial inquiry to ascertain the truth behind the incident and adequate compensation to the affected family.

The area falls under Titabor Assembly constituency, which Gogoi has represented since 2001.

His son and Kaliabor MP Gaurav Gogoi, in a letter to Union defence minister Rajnath Singh about the “unfortunate incident” in army custody, also sought a high-level inquiry in a “fair and expedient manner and ensure strict punishment for anybody found guilty”.

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