Hailakandi rape-murder: Speedy justice reposes trust in system

Guwahati: At a time when the police are often criticised for being slow, which further delays the process of dispensation of justice, the Hailakandi police have now been able to repose a renewed trust in the department.

On Thursday, the Hailakandi district and sessions court judge awarded death sentence to one Jasimuddin Borbhuyan for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in the southern Assam district on March 14. The verdict comes within 200 days of the crime — a development made possible by the police’s timely action.

The gruesome incident took place on March 14, when the victim was raped and later set ablaze at her home in Betcharra village under Ramnanthpur police station along the Assam-Mizoram Border.

An FIR was filed in the Ramnathpur police station in this regard.

The accused, Borbhuyan, was on Monday convicted by Debasish Bhattacharjee, district and sessions court judge, under Sections 376/302 of the IPC read with Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act).

The court awarded capital punishment to him on Thursday.

Speaking to EastMojo, SP Mohneesh Mishra, a 2011-batch IPS officer, said, “If you do things in a logical and organised manner without taking your eyes off the sequences of the crime, I think you can do that (referring to the timely police action).”

“I was also a student of law. I can tell you from my understanding of law that If you were really logical and if you follow the natural instinct and go by the evidence available, getting conviction for criminals is not difficult,” Mishra added.

Mishra and his team had filed the charge sheet in court on June 11 within the stipulated 90 days. Not just that, Mishra also made a special prayer to the judge of district and sessions court of Hailakandi that due to the serious nature of the crime, the case was to be put on a fast-track trial.

“The only challenge is the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) test,” said Mishra, adding: “This is time consuming and because of which filing the charge sheet on time becomes impossible in most cases. But in this case, we have put our best efforts into receiving the FSL report on time. We had sent our investigation officer multiple times to the FSL to ensure that we get the report on time.”

Meanwhile, the victim’s brother (name withheld), told EastMojo, “I am happy that my sister got justice on time. I have not been sleeping properly since the day she was gone. I had no belief in the police department before, but the SP and his team has put my faith back on the system.”

Notably, Borbhuyan , the rape-murder convict, has a history of crime. “He has earlier sent to jail for an attempt of rape of the victim’s sister. He’s a well-known criminal,” Mishra added.

Till May 2017, there were 1,94,496 cases pending in the district and sub-ordinate courts of Assam. Following this, the Centre had asked the state government to take steps to reduce pending court cases. In a letter to the then chief secretary of Assam, VK Pipersenia, the Union ministry of law and justice had also said that such pendency clogs the justice delivery system.