Assam mob lynching case: Concern over FIR filled against counsels

Diphu: Leaders of various social organisations of Karbi Anglong district in Assam have expressed serious concern over the FIR lodged against the defense counsels of the 48 accused in the mob lynching incident that took place at Panjuri under Dokmoka police station on June 8 last year.

Demanding that the real culprits should be punished as per law of the land and justice should be delivered to Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet, victims of the mob lynching incident, the organisations have also demanded that no innocent persons should be harassed in this connection.

Addressing media persons at the office of the Karbi Students’ Association (KSA), president of All Party Hills Leaders Conference (APHLC), JI Kathar, on Monday said, “Allegations like threatening and inducing witnesses of the mob lynching case have been registered against both the advocates. We believe legal profession is a noble profession. So allegations like this against both the advocates are false. Hence we are constrained to raise a question in public whether the accused persons (all belonging to Karbi and Bodo tribes) have no right to be represented in the court by lawyer (s) or whether representing them in the court is a crime.”

“We, therefore, appeal to the complainants, Gopal Chandra Das and Ajit Kumar Nath, to withdraw the complaints against the advocates for the greater interest of maintaining communal harmony in the society. We can understand the gnawing pain the bereaved families are suffering,” Kathar said.

Urging the authorities concerned to take adequate steps so that the real culprits should be punished as per law of the land and justice should be delivered to Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet, chairman of Joint Action Committee for Autonomous State (JACAS), Khorsing Teron, said that the police have arrested and chargesheeted 48 persons in connection with the incident. The case has been transferred from Diphu Judicial Court to Nagaon Judicial Court. “But in the process, no innocent persons should be harassed,” Teron demanded.

Kathar also said that relentlessly attempts are being made to spread hate campaign against the Karbis ever since the mob lynching incident took place.

A certain section of Assamese society has evinced strong hatred towards Karbi community. It has left deep wounds in the heart of the simple-hearted Karbi people, he regretted.

Representatives of organisations like JACAS, Hills Tribal League, KSA-Inglongpho, Karbi Nimso Chingthur Asong, Karbi Students & Youth Council, Karbi National Assembly, Karbi Anglong Rong Asar Amei and others took part in the press conference.

On June 8, 2018, two friends — Nilotpal Das (29) and Abhijeet Nath (30) — had gone to a picnic spot at Kangthilangso waterfall under Dokmoka police station in Karbi Anglong. While returning, their car was allegedly stopped at Panjuri Kachari by a group of irate villagers, on rumours of being child-lifters.

While Das, a local, was a sound engineer settled in Mumbai, Nath was a businessman from Guwahati.

The villagers allegedly attacked their vehicle, pulled the two youths out and bludgeoned them to death even as the duo pleaded to let them go, according to videos circulated through social media.