Assam villages under curfew after murder sparks communal tension

Situation better now compared to two days ago, says police official

June 23, 2020 02:12 pm | Updated 02:12 pm IST - GUWAHATI:

Two villages near eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh town on Tuesday continued to be under curfew after the murder of a 20-year-old man on June 19 sparked communal tension.

A team of the State Disaster Response Force had fished out the body of Saurav Das from a river on the night he was allegedly murdered by members of the family of a girl he was said to be dating.

On June 20, people of Lezai area blocked the highway to Dibrugarh, demanding punishment of the murderers belonging to a different faith. It was the second such killing after that of Rituparna Pegu, who belonged to the indigenous Mising community, in Guwahati on June 12.

“The situation has improved compared to two days ago after a meeting with all the stakeholders at the Deputy Commissioner’s office on Monday. Apart from the district administration handing over a compensation cheque to the victim’s family, a peace committee was formed,” Dibrugarh district’s Superintendent of Police Sreejith T. told The Hindu on June 23.

He added the curfew in Lezai and Dewanbari areas, imposed on June 20, was still on.

“We have arrested three people so far and are awaiting the post-mortem report to find out how the man was killed,” Mr Sreejith said.

Demand for trial

The Rituparna killing – the victim’s throat was slit after an argument over a chair – had sparked protests in Guwahati and in Majuli and Dhemaji districts where the Misings have a sizeable population. Rituparna was from Dhemaji district.

“We have been demanding fast-track trial for punishing the culprits,” said Raj Kumar Morang, president of Takam Mising Porin Kebang.

On the day of Das’ murder, the Dibrugarh police had arrested four men accused in the gang-rape of a minor girl. “We have recorded the statement of the girl who was taken to a tea estate and raped,” a police official said.

Man held

Meanwhile, the police in central Assam’s Nagaon district arrested Abhinandan Nath for posting obscene and derogatory comments about Angoorlata Deka, a popular Assamese film star turned Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Batadrava Assembly constituency.

Police said the man confessed to abusing the MLA for not paying attention to his complaints about the bad road condition in parts of the constituency.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.